How to train your Dragon: Halo
by Wolffury
Summary: On the planet of Berk, two sides have been warring against each other for years. The Covenant & The Spartans. Hiccup-200 and his friends will have to unite two arch enemies in order to save Berk, and possibly the galaxy.
1. Ch 1: Berk

**Hello, ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, dragons of all ages. First I would like to point out that Semi-inspiration for this came from ****How to train your Dragon: 2015**** by Disneyanime91. This story pretty much just all the characters and events from HTTYD set in the Halo universe. Is the story Predictable? Yes...and no. I have made some alterations with both characters and plot, but nothing major. **

**In some alternate, parallel dimension, I own both How to train your Dragon and Halo. This (unfortunately) is not that dimension.**

_ This is Berk. It's 12 hundred light years from a black hole and several days travel to the edge of the galaxy. UNSC installation 117. In a word, sturdy. It's been here for 7 generations, and every piece of tech is new. We have fishing, hunting, and extremely lovely sunsets. The only problem is the enemy. Some people have other countries or animals. We have, Covenant._

The installation is lit up with fiery explosions and plasma blasts. Large soldiers in heavy armor run through the base and start taking up defensive positions. They return fire with a storm of bullets cutting through the enemies front lines. The enemy is quick to retreat though, and start bringing in heavier artillery.

_Ever since the war with the Covenant began, Berk has become the unsung frontline of the war. They viciously outnumber us, their weaponry is far superior, and they are very aggressive. Most soldiers would retreat. Not us. We're Spartans. We have stubbornness issues._

_I'm Sargent Hiccup-200. A "true warrior's name" I know, but when your on the edge of the galaxy and have tons of soldiers, names are slim pickings. Course mine's not the worst. The commanders believe different names will prevent us from getting mixed up in the battlefield. I bet it just makes it easier to find us in their records. If you're wondering about my rank. While though I'm still just a teenager, being a Spartan does have it's advantages. _

I grab my helmet and put it on as I rush out of my quarters and into the firefight. I take cover as a Banshee flys overhead and fires its fuel rod cannon at a small weapon depot nearby. We had many of these small depots so that soldiers would, ideally, always have weapons and ammo nearby. I got up and began running for the armory before getting pulled out of the way from a Wraith's plasma mortar blast. I look up to see a Spartan bigger than everyone else with green and black armor holding me by the armored plate on my back.

"Hiccup. What are you doing out here? What is he doi...? Get to the armory." He says before letting me go and pushing me towards my post.

_I had been saved by General Stoick, leader of this installation. People say he destroyed a Wraith with his bare hands when he was just a rookie. Do I believe it?_

The general picks up a plasma grenade and sticks a Banshee on its engine causing it to explode.

_Yes I do_.

I make my way for the armory. When I finally get there Colonel Gobber is already yelling orders for me. He had been trained to run the armory and still did with great effiency, even after he lost his arm and leg. They were now replaced by robotic prosthetics. His arm could even transform itself into a close range weapon.

"Well what took you so long. I thought you'd been captured."

"Who me? No, I'm way to tough for them. How would they even get a hand on all this?" I said flexing muscles, which were smaller than everyone else's.

"Well, they could just grab you." He said with sarcasm, but it was all too true. I may be a genetically enhanced soldier, but they were still stronger than I was.

* * *

Outside, the Covenant were being held back, barely. The General was resupplying his ammo and giving orders at the same time.

"Send more men to the western flank. We'll counter attack from the north with the Scorpions."

* * *

I went to the window to hand out ammo and weapons just as my squad ran by. I'm still in training so Spartans have to work in squads before given the option to go solo. I unfortunately was at the bottom of that squad. They were running towards one of the larger ammo depots that had caught on fire. It was their job to put it out.

There's Corporal Fishlegs-196, the tech savvy enemy intel specialist. The twins, Privates Ruffnut-197 and Tuffnut-198. Corporal Snotlout-199, my cousin the muscle man with very little brains. And finally...

The ammo depot explodes to silhouette probably the only Spartan who wasn't wearing their helmet. A teenage girl about Hiccup's age with long blonde hair tied in a braid and bangs that covered her left ocean blue eye.

_ Captain Astrid-201_. Team leader, Combat Specialist, and easily the most beautiful girl in the universe. She had gotten her advanced promotion from being the best in any combat situation. Of course having personal training from the Master Cheif John-117 doesn't hurt either.

I can't help but stare at her beauty, losing all acknowledgement of the battle at hand. A soldier who's been asking for a weapon while I stared decides to just reach in and grab one. He then smacks me upside the head with it.

"Get your head out of the clouds."

Before I can retort he runs off into the battle. Everyone's job was so much cooler than mine. I'm about to grab a rocket launcher when...

"Don't even think about it."

I turned to see Gobber still moving around the room. He wasn't even looking at me, but I know how he knew. I had tried the same thing _so_ many times before.

"Oh come on, just let me out. I have to make my mark."

"Oh, you've made plenty of marks. All in the wrong places."

"Please. Just two minutes. I'll kill some Covenant, my life will get instantly better. I might even get a date." Yes, I was a Spartan. Yes, I was a Sargent at the age of 15. But, my life was **still miserable**_. _

"You can't aim , you can't fight, you can't even use one of these." he said holding up a small cylinder. Bagger grenades, we developed them in order to capture Covenant alive to interrogate them.

"Yes, but this will throw it for me." I said patting some sort of cannon. The cannon however went off and fired a Bagger through the window. It collided with a soldier and captured him in an electric net. Gobber, was now getting fed up.

"You see. Now this right here is what I'm talking about." It's true, I was an inventor. Half my inventions didn't work though, and the other half ended up destroying half the installation.

"It just has a sensitive trigger, that's all."

"Now look. If you're going to get out there and fight the Covenant, you need to stop all..._this_." He said, gesturing with his hands.

"You just gestured to all of me."

"Yes, that's it! Stop being all of you."

"Ooohhh."

"Ooh yeah."

"You sir are playing a dangerous game. Keeping all this Raw. Spartaness. Contained. There will be consequences!" I said trying to intimidate him. It was unsuccessful.

"I'll take my chances. Laser. Recharge. Now." he said handing Hiccup a Spartan laser and walking away. Hiccup then took the old model to the recharge station and hooked it up.

* * *

_ One of these days, I'll get out there. Because being a warrior, is everything around here. Out here, the Covenant have been genetically altering their soldiers. Making them faster, tougher, and sometimes (though rarely) smarter. You have your basic Covenant troops: Grunts, Jackels, Elites, Brutes. Hunters are big, killing one or two of them would at least get me noticed. Then you have the genetically enhanced versions. _

_ Power Grunts, or Gronkles, are as tall as humans, though they still run away when you start firing your weapon. Not sure why. _

_ Mega Brutes, or Nightmares, are tough, killing one of those would definitely get me a girlfriend. _

_ Super Jackels, or Nadders, are fast and evasive and carry two of everything for twice the status._

Outside the General rounds up some troops for a foward charge. He stops when he hears a high pitched whistling.

_ But the ultimate prize is the one no one has ever seen. We believe it to be a genetically enhanced Elite. We call it the..._

"Nightfury!"

"Get down." a soldier says that just as an empty turret tower explodes.

_This thing is the most dangerous piece in the Covenants army. It's the ultimate sabatour, but it's behavior is strange. This thing never shows itself, never kills anyone, and never misses._

A bright blue bolt flys through the air and hit a empty elephant. Blowing it into pieces.

_ No one has ever killed a Nightfury. Which is why I'm going to be the first._

* * *

"Hiccup. They need me out there," says Gobber grabbing a battle rifle and loading it. "Stay, put, there. You know what I mean. YAAARRRGGGGHHH!" Gobber is not exactly "subtle" in battle.

I watch him run into the battle. When he's out of sight I grab my Bagger cannon and run out into the battle. Leaving the ammo depot unmanned.

I get to one of the few quiet areas and set up my cannon. The cannon powered up and began scanning with a mixture of motion, electro, thermal, and visual scanners. There was a barracks several yards away. It was abandoned for refurbishment. Some of the roof panels were missing. I figured the Nightfury would strike here. It always chose unoccupied buildings.

I didn't have to wait long when a weird looking Banshee uncloaked and landed next to the barracks. The hatch opened, but nothing came out. I watched for a while, I remotely marked the Banshee. The Nightfury could be cloaked, but how was he dodging the other sensors? After another minute a high pitched whistling came from the barracks. The Banshee started taking off and I activated the cannon. The Banshee was cloaked and very high up, before the cannon got a confirmed lock. The barracks blew up in a white and blue inferno just as I fired the cannon, the mix of recoil and shockwave knocking me flat on my back. The bagger grenade hit and the electricity from the net short circuited the Banshee. I could just make out the hatch opening and saw something fall out when the cannon fired again. This time the net hit the falling object and it landed somewhere in the forest. I heard a faint roar as the object crashed into the trees. I had hit a Nightfury!

"Y-yes! I did it! Oh yeah I did it! Did anyone see that?" A Mega Brute blows up my canon with its brute shot as it lands with its jet pack. "Except for you." I say defeated. In my haste I had forgotten to grab a weapon. So, I did one of the things I was best at, run.

**So, there's chapter one. Please review. I will try to reply if I'm able and if I can answer any questions. Next update should be in a week.**


	2. Ch 2: Discovery

**Alright, so I was going through this chapter to double check for mistakes and whatnot, when I noticed something. While writing I sometimes switch from 1st person to 3rd person, and vice versa. So, this is a beforehand apology if I miss something and there is a sudden change in perspective. I'll try to fix it before I post, but if I miss anything I hope it doesn't throw you guys off too much.**

* * *

Ch. 2: Discovery

* * *

I run through the installation yelling at the top of my lungs. The Nightmare chases after me, using his jet pack to try to gain an advantage. Every time I went for a weapon the Nightmare would fire its brute shot and divert me away from it. It was almost as if it were playing with me.

It played to long though as it ran out of ammo allowing me to grab a discarded assault rifle. I turned around and tried to aim but was met with a large scaly foot landing on my chest. The Nightmare reached down and pulled the assault rifle out of my hand, keeping me pinned to the ground with its foot. He then pulled out a mauler and aimed it straight for my head. The impact from his foot had already damaged my shields enough for the blast to be lethal.

Just then, Stoick tackles the Nightmare and throws it to the ground. They get up and stare each other down. Stoick pulls out his knife while the Nightmare aims with the mauler. Stoick dodges the blast and punches him in the face. He takes his knife and drives it into the base of the Nightmare's neck, just between its helmet and its armored back. The Nightmare slumps to the ground dead.

Stoick, however, didn't notice a Wraith coming out from behind a building, but I did. I spotted a rocket launcher a few feet away and picked it up. I aimed at the Wraith and fired. The rocket hit the wraith just as it fired. The impact from the rocket knocked its aim off target. The plasma blast that had been intended for a Scorpion hit one of the food storage units instead, blowing it sky high.

I looked as the food storage went up in flames, then refocused on the Wraith. The Wraith's shields had been knocked out. Unfortunately, I had used my last rocket. The Wraith was now aiming at me when I noticed a small red dot on the Wraith's armor. Half a second later a bright red beam came from my right and blew a hole straight through the Wraith, blowing it up in the process. I looked behind me to see Astrid holding a smoking Spartan Laser.

The Covenant were now in retreat. I was thinking about thanking Astrid for saving me, when I heard footsteps behind me. I did not have to look to know who they belonged to. I could tell from the other Spartans and soldiers that had gathered around.

_Which reminds me, there's one more thing you should know._

"Sorry, Dad." I then looked at the path of destruction I had left behind me this time. "But, at least I hit a Nightfury." A large hand grabbed my shoulder and started pulling me away. "It's not like those past few times. I really did hit one. It went down around sector six. We need to get a search party out there and..."

"Stop! Just stop. Every time you go outside, disaster falls. Can you not see that I have bigger things to worry about. There's no telling when the next supply ship will get through, and I have an entire installation to feed."

_He was mad, and with good reason. Our area of the galaxy was guarded by several (what we believe to be) experimental Covenant cruisers. Making it hard for us to receive supplies. The only reason they haven't used their cruisers to incinerate us yet, is because they think we're positioned on some sort of ancient relic._

He took in a breath while he removed his helmet, revealing his red beard and hair.

"Why can't you follow the simplest orders?"

I followed suite and removed my helmet as well.

"It's just, I-I can't stop myself. I see the Covenant, and I have to just, _kill_ them. It's who I am dad."

"Ugh. You are many things Hiccup, but a soldier is not one of them. Get back to your quarters." He then looked to the group surrounding us. "Make sure he gets there. I have his mess to clean up."

Gobber walked up behind me and knocked me upside the head to tell me to get moving. We walked past the rest of my squad.

* * *

~Astrid-201's POV~

I just sat on some rubble as the General had his talk with his son. He was yelling at him about destroying everything. While I had to agree that bad things did tend to happen around him. It's not entirely his fault. He didn't know firing at the wraith would cause it to hit one of the food storage units.

I sat there holding my energy axe in my hands as he walked by. I listened as the others made fun of him.

"Quite the performance." said Tuffnut.

"I've never seen anyone mess up that bad. That helped!" said Snotlout.

"Thank you. I was trying." he responded.

I defiantly had to admire his ability to put up with them, especially since they did this to him every day. Gobber pushed Snotlout down but all he did was laugh.

I shook my head in disapproval. I looked down at my energy axe. Hiccup wasn't a failure at everything. He was great at inventing things. Often times they didn't work, but when they did, they were amazing. I remember when Hiccup gave me this, asking if I wanted to try it out. He told me he made it using pieces from some scavenged energy swords. I tried it out and it was great. He told me to keep it, and I did. In fact, I never went anywhere without it.

I got up and decided to take a shower.

* * *

~Hiccup-200's POV~

"I really did hit one." I said as me and Gobber walked back to my squad's barracks.

"Yeah, sure you did."

"He never listens."

"It runs in the family."

"And when he does he always does it with this disappointed scowl, like someone handed him the wrong weapon." We've reached the front door of the barracks. I then adjust my voice to imitate my dad's. "Excuse me, Quartermaster. You've given me the wrong gun. I asked for a minigun with 50-caliber rounds, laser sights and incendiary bullets on the side. This here, this is a talking pocketknife."

"Now here's where you're wrong. It's not some much what you look like. It's what's inside that he can't stand."

I look at him blankly, "Thank you, for summing that up."

"Look, just stop trying to be something you're not."

"I just want to be one of you guys." I said going through the door and closing it behind me. I then go to the back and slip out through the hidden exit I made. This time I remembered to bring a weapon.

* * *

~General's office. No-POV~

Stoick had gathered his trusted officer's for a meeting. The business of which was to decide what should be done about the Covenant.

"Either we finish them or they'll finish us! It's the only way we'll be rid of them." Stoick is leaning over a large holo-table that had a large map of the planet projected over it. "If we find their base and take it, they'll leave. We'll have won this area of the galaxy. I say we go on one more search, before the storms come."

_One of Berk's downsides was that around this time of year, huge electrical storms would come and drift through the area that separated the Installation from the Covenant base._

"Most men never come back. It's suicide." said one of the officers skeptically. "We can't even get near their base thanks to those anti-vehicle cannons."

"We're Spartans. It's an occupational hazard. Now who's in?"

Stoick looked around at the nervous officers. They were muttering excuses like, "My men are getting ill." or "We're overdue for med-checks."

Stoick sighed as he finally gave in. He never liked it when he had to play this card. "Fine, but those who stay have to deal with Hiccup."

Immediately everyones hand shoots into the air and shouts of officers volunteering fill the office.

"That's more like it."

All the officers except for Gobber exit the room. Gobber, who had been leaning against a wall, takes a sip from his coffee, and makes ready to leave. "Well, I'll go pack my undies."

Gobber was certainly a _strange _Spartan, but he had proved himself both in battle and as Stoick's close friend.

Stoick gets up and walks around the table and towards Gobber.

"No. I need you to stay here. I've got a special mission for you. You're going to stay here and train Viking squad for project Dragon."

"Oh right and while I'm doing that. Hiccup can cover the stall. Guns, grenades, rockets. What could possibly go wrong." he said in his over dramatic tone.

Stoick takes a deep breath considering his son, "What am I going to do with him, Gobber?"

"Put him in training with the others."

"No, I'm serious."

"So am I."

Stoick looks at him like he's crazy. Or crazier.

"He'll be killed before you even let the first simulation run."

"Oh, you don't know that." Gobber replied waving him off.

"Yes I do."

"No you don't."

"Actually, yes. I do."

"No! You don't."

"Look, you know what he's like. Every since he was young he's been, different. He has the attention span of a Grunt. I take him hunting and he goes searching for, zombies."

"Zombies are real! You remember what 117 said about the Flood."

They both shiver at the mention of them. They had heard about the Master Chief's adventure on Halo. A parasitic organism that fed on everything and then turned them into mutated zombies. It'd give anyone nightmares.

"Point taken. But, when I was a boy my commander told me to punch a concrete wall. I thought it was crazy, but I didn't question him. And you know what happened?"

"You broke your hand."

"I punched a hole straight through that wall. I realized, then and there, what a Spartan could do. I knew who I was, what I was to become. *sigh* Hiccup is not that boy."

"You can't stop him Stoick, you can only prepare him. I know it seems hopless, but the reality is, you won't always be here to protect him. He's gonna get out there again, in fact I guarantee that he's out there now."

* * *

~sector 6~

Hiccup had been searching the sector for hours. He was tired, hungry, and hadn't found a single thing. He checked his holo-map. 90% of it was covered in red marks he had made to identify a negative search result. He turned it off and reattached it to his belt.

"Some Spartan I am." he told himself as he walked through the forest. "Some people lose their gun, others their helmet. No not me, I just manage to lose and **ENTIRE** alien and it's ship."

He wasn't watching where he was going and fell face first into a crater. He looked up to see that several feet in front of him was a weird looking Banshee. It was wrecked and obviously needed repair.

_ How distracted had he been? How had he even made it to Sargent? Oh right, he was good at strategy, even though he never got to use his skills._ Although he felt his dad being the general had something to do with it, even though he didn't want it too.

He got up and looked around. If its ship is here, then the Nightfury must be nearby. He got over the edge of the crater and walked around a rock. He then ducked back behind the rock as he glimpsed something on the other side. He slowly edged around the rock to see something black leaning up against a tree. Trapped inside the electro-net was an elite with pitch black armor. He did it. He caught a Nightfury.

* * *

**Next chapter should be uploaded soon. Remember to leave a review/comment. **


	3. Ch 3: Staring at Death

Ch. 3: Staring at Death

* * *

~Hiccup-200~

It took me a moment to register everything that was happening. I had done the impossible. I had caught a Nightfury.

I had been staring into blank space, imagining how proud my father would be of me when I showed him. When I looked back down at the Nightfury's head a single eye was staring at me. It was different from most Elite's eyes. Elites usually had yellow eyes. The Nightfury had neon green eyes with slitted pupils.

We both took a moment to stare at each other, before I drew my magnum and aimed straight for its head.

"Alright Nightfury. I'm gonna kill you, and cut off your head and take it too my father. I am a spartan. I am a SPARTAN!" The Nightfury just gave a small huff. I cocked the gun and aimed. It just closed its eyes and leaned its head against the tree in defeat. I tried to pull the trigger, but I couldn't. Why couldn't I? I wanted this...didn't I?

My arm drops to my side as I sighed in defeat. I couldn't kill him.

"I did this." I said as I turned and took my helmet off. But I couldn't walk away. I couldn't leave him to starve to death. That was cruel, even if he was the enemy.

I turned back towards the Nightfury, pulled out the nets remote, and deactivated the electro net. The Nightfury's eyes shot open as it felt the net slacken. That was all it needed. It pulled out an energy sword, cutting through the net, and rammed right into me. I was pinned against the rock. The Nightfury's foot on my chest and dual energy swords drawn. He starred into my eyes and I starred into his. I noticed something in his eyes. He then bent down over my face and gave a ear splitting roar. He then deactivated his swords and turned to run off into the forest.

I sat there breathing heavily as I watched him run off. I then got up and put my helmet back on. I then turned to walk back to base. I had taken two steps when I fainted.

~Installation-117~

When I returned to base I was informed that the General wanted to see me.

_Oh great_. I thought, _What did I do now?_

I entered his office and stood at attention. The General was sitting at his desk with his helmet sitting in front of him.

"You wanted to see me sir."

"At ease Hiccup."

I relaxed a little bit and took off my helmet. What I needed to say, needed to be done face to face.

"I need to talk to you dad."

"I need to talk to you too son."

I took in a deep breath and...

"I've decided I don't want to fight Covenant."

"I think it's time you learn to fight Covenant."

"Wait. What?" we said in unison.

My dad looked unsure, "Uh, you go first."

"Uh, no, you go first."

"Alright. You get your wish. Dragon training. You start in the morning."

This could not have gotten any worse.

"Oh man, I should've gone first. Cause, you see. We already have a surplus of Covenant fighting soldiers, but do we have enough, medical soldiers, or engineers."

"You'll need this." He says handing me a rocket launcher. Obviously not paying attention to what I just said.

"Dad, I don't want to kill Covenant." I said, starting to get desperate.

"Oh yes you do." he said like I was joking.

"Let me rephrase. Dad. I **can't** kill Covenant."

"But you will kill Covenant."

"No. I'm really extra sure that I **won't**."

"It's time, Hiccup."

"Can you not hear me?" I was pleading with him at this point.

"This is serious son." he said turning to me. I shut my mouth. I knew better than to talk when he had that look on his face. "When you wear that helmet, you carry all of us with you. Which means you walk like us, you talk like us, you think like us. No more of..._this_."

"You just gestured to all of me." I said flatly.

"Deal?"

"You know, this conversation is feeling very one sided."

"DEAL?"

"Deal." I gave in. There was no arguing with him when he was like this.

"Good." He turned and picked up his helmet and a duffle bag lying on the floor. He must have been going on a search for the Covenant base. Knowing him it didn't really surprise me. "Train hard. I'll be back...probably."

I just watched him make his way for the front door.

"And I'll be here...maybe."

* * *

**Sorry about this chapter being short. It just felt like an appropriate time to end it. Next chapter should be up soon. Remember to review and/or comment. They are appreciated and help me know that you guys actually do like this story. **


	4. Ch 4: Dragon Training

Ch. 4: Dragon Training

* * *

UNSC installation 117: STC (Spartan Training Center)

~Astrid-201~

* * *

We waited in the prep room for the giant metal doors to open. I had been ready for this moment since yesterday when I first found out. Dragon Training. It was a special operation, whose purpose was to train Spartans to work with personal AI units. When my former mentor the Mastercheif teamed up with Cortana, the UNSC noticed that they were extremely effective working together. So they designed a special program where a squad of Spartans each received a personal AI and worked with that AI to see how we would do. They called it, _Operation Dragon._

They told us to give them our helmets, probably to either modify them to hold the AIs or give us entirely new helmets. I still wasn't entirely sure why they picked my squad. Not that I didn't want to be part of the program, I was thrilled when I heard I was in. It's just the rest of my squad that I was unsure of.

Fishlegs was a brainiac. He was good with data and statistics and stuff. Not sure if he's a soldier though.

The twins were fairly good. Unfortunately they often times got so busy fighting each other, that they forget about the enemy.

Snotlout was just weird. He had the physical characteristics of a Spartan, but he never acted like one. He always tries to flirt with me and usually ends up getting shot in training.

Then there was Hiccup, my fellow prototyper. (Both of us had been given some prototype armor for testing. While standard armor could have one optional upgrade, the new prototypes could have several.) I wasn't entirely sure what to make of him. He wasn't present, but that's no surprise. He's never on time for anything. He's probably the weakest out of all of us, worst aim, and is terrible in hand-to-hand. Not to mention every time he goes out he causes massive destruction in some way, shape, or form. However, he always tried to get into the fight, even if it meant risking his life. If there was one thing that he had going for him, it was that he seemed to be just as determined as I was to get into the fight.

The doors swung open and Gobber stood behind them.

"Welcome to Dragon Training." he said waving his arm to show us into the arena.

I stood up and faced the doorway. "No turning back."

I led my squad into the arena and looked around the place. It was amazing. The engineers had been working for months on this place.

I was armored up like I was taking on the entire Covenant army. I was wielding a battle rifle in my hands. On my back I had a Spartan laser along with my energy axe. On my belt were several grenades of multiple types. I had standard frag grenades, plasmas, even a few flame grenades. And last but not least I had my specially made thigh holsters holding my dual SMGs.

I started walking towards a table that had our helmets on it.

"I hope I get some serious injuries." said Tuffnut.

"I'm hoping for some lasserations. Like, on my shoulder of lower back." commented Ruffnut.

"Yeah. It's only fun if you get a scar out of it." I said sarcastically. Why was it that all anyone cared about was scars?

"I know right. Pain...love it."

We all turn to see Hiccup walking in carrying an assault rifle. Let the insults begin.

"Aww great. Who let him in?" complained Tuffnut.

"Let's get started!" announced Gobber, "The Spartan who does the best in this program will not only get promoted, BUT get a special surprise at the end of training."

Promoted again and a special surprise. Like I wasn't already determined enough to win.

Of course Snotlout had to comment, "Uh, Hiccup already killed a Nightfury. So, does that disqualify him?" I just gave him a short disapproving shake of my head while the others laughed.

"Can I transfer to the class with the cool Spartans?" said Tuffnut.

As I walked up to my helmet I could hear Gobber giving Hiccup advice.

"Don't worry. They'll go after you last because you're less of a target."

_Probably true._

"They'll see you as sick or insane and go after the more Spartan like teens instead."

_ And once again Gobber displays his "great" reassurance skills. Even I felt less assured after hearing that._

"Alright! The Dragon training program is meant to teach you about the many enemies your going to fight. Why is this different from regular training? Because you will be assisted by your personal AI units. Put on your helmets and meet them."

Me and my squad mates took our helmets and put them on. Mine fit perfectly, letting my braid hang out of the back. If I had more time I would manage to fit my hair in my helmet so that it didn't become a liability, but there was no time for that. I checked the HUD and it displayed shields were at full power along with my armor upgrades.

"Hello Astrid." said a voice that I assumed was my AI unit. I noticed a few of the others seemed to jump a little when they heard their's. My AI was apparently female. I haven't met an AI that wasn't. Of course, this is only the third AI that I've officially talked to. The first being the installation's AI, Gothi, and the second being Cortana when my mentor officially introduced us.

Gobber was now pacing in front of us. "Over the next few weeks you are going to be working with your custom AI units. And by custom, I mean, that the engineers have given you the ability to name your AI, and customize their hologram appearance. Their behavior however is not customizable, they have already been designed to work with you. That does not mean however that you will instantly become best friends and the perfect fighting duo. That's what the course is for."

He started walking around the arena. "Now. This is the STC Dragon Training arena. The most advanced arena we have. Here you will be fighting enemy Covenant ground troops as well as vehicles and the new genetically enhanced soldiers." He was now walking in front of a series of doors. "The Deadly Nadder."

And of course, Fishlegs had to start shooting off information. "Speed:8 Armor:16." Not that I disapproved of info. As it was once said, "Knowing is half the battle." and as a wise man once said, "Knowledge is power." However, that "power" gets annoying when you hear it coming out of someone twenty-four seven.

"The Hiddeous Zippleback."

"plus eleven stealth times two"

"The Monstrous Nightmare."

"Brute strength fifteen"

"The Terrible Terror."

"Attack eight, venom twelve"

"CAN YOU STOP THAT!" yelled Gobber. I was about to yell at Fishlegs myself. "And the Gronkle."

"Arm strength eight." Fishlegs whispered. _Ugh_.

Gobber then exited the arena and closed the gate behind him. We waited a minute and heard his voice over our helmet comms.

"Alright let's start off with some holosimulations."

Snotlout suddenly discarded his macho act and panicked. "Wait, aren't you going to teach us first?"

"I believe in learning on the job."

The arena suddenly came to life as holograms appeared all over the place. I counted five hologrunts, two holojackals, and a _real_ modified wraith burst through one of the unlocked doors. We all split up and I immediately took out two grunts and a jackal with my Battle Rifle. I saw Snotlout sloppily take out the other three grunts with his DMR. Or should I say one grunt with his DMR. The other two he wasted the rest of his ammo on without hitting anything, then he just blew them up with a rocket. Then the wraith started to get involved.

It fired off several plasma blasts, and Gobber's voice came over our comms.

"Your job today is to survive. There's a wraith and no cover, what's the first thing your going to need?"

"A doctor." said Hiccup.

"Plus five speed." said Fishlegs. _Typical_.

"Bubble Shield." I said with confidence.

"Bubble shield, go." Everyone scattered to grab one of the several bubble shields lying around. "You're most important piece of equipment is your shields."

On the other side of the arena I could hear the twins arguing, **again**. They'd both went for the same bubble shield and were now fighting over it.

"Hey, I had this shield first."

"There's like a millions shields!"

"There, take that shield it has flowers on it. Girls like flowers." Ruff pulled the shield out of his hands and bashed him over the head with it. "Oof."

"Whoops. Now this one has blood on it."

They didn't notice the last jackal sneaking up on them. However, the wraith had turned its attention to them and fired. The hologram blast blew them up as well as the jackal (obviously a grunt was driving).

"Ruffnut. Tuffnut. You're out." came Gobber's unsurprised voice over the comm.

We ran around the arena avoiding the wraiths fire. Hiccup seemed to be staying directly behind it. A good strategy, but he still wasn't making any advances to attack it.

"Wraiths have to take a certain amount of time to recharge before they can fire again. How long is the recharge time for this wraith?"

"Uhh, five seconds?" said Snotlout.

"No six!" corrected Fishlegs.

"Yes six. That's a second for each of you."

"I really know..." BAM! Fishlegs lost focus and ended up being the target. "AAAHHH!" He then ran out of the arena even though the wraith wouldn't be targeting him anymore.

I unfortunately found myself standing next to Snotlout. He was trying to hit on me, *sigh* _again_.

"So I just learned some new workout techniques, so I was wondering if you wanted to get together some time and work out. You look like you work out." The wraith was aiming right at us. I went into armor lock as it fired. Snotlout either didn't have the upgrade or wasn't paying attention (probably both), and as a result, got blasted. I exited armor lock and rolled over towards Hiccup, who had just activated his bubble shield. The wraith was watching us, waiting for the shield to run out of energy. Hiccup for some reason decided to start up a conversation.

"So, I guess it's just you and me."

"Nope just you." The shield failed and I rolled out of the way of the wraiths blast. It landed close to Hiccup, but was far enough away that it just lowered his shields. The blast had made him fall and drop his gun. The wraith closed in and Hiccup just ran. I saw an opening. I slid in front of the wraith and quickly laid down. I grabbed onto the underside of the wraith and held on as it dragged me across the arena. I took out some T4 and attatched it to the underside. I let go and the wraith continued chasing Hiccup.

It finally cornered him. I saw him, pressed against a wall. He seemed to cringed as he sensed the blast coming. I pulled out the detonator and blew the T4 just before the wraith fired. The underside exploded. I packed enough T4 that the wraith front flipped and landed a few inches from Hiccup.

"_Simulation ended_." came the computers voice over the arena's speakers.

Gobber came into the arena.

"Don't worry you'll get to go again tomorrow. And remember: A Covenant soldier will always. **Always**," he added gravely in Hiccup's direction. "go for the kill."

We all walked back to our barracks. I pulled out my computer. My AI then wirelessly transferred from my helmet to my computer. She pulled up a program that allowed me to customize her.

First off was the name. It took me a minute before I decided on one. _Stormfly_. Next was her appearance. For some reason I couldn't decide on what I wanted Stormfly to look like. I looked up and noticed something.

Hiccup wasn't there.


	5. Ch 5: Meeting, Naming, & Criticism

Ch. 5: Meeting, Naming, and Criticism

* * *

~sector 6~

* * *

Gobber's last words echoed through my head. _ "A Covenant soldier will always go for the kill."_

"So why didn't you?" I picked up some of the electro net. For some reason the Nightfury's ship was gone, leaving only a few bits of debre. I then saw a trail of tracks leading away in the direction that the Nightfury took. I started to follow them.

_'Hiccup? Do you mind if I ask what we're doing here exactly?'_ said a voice it my head. Then I realized it wasn't in my head. It was my AI. I had forgotten he was there.

"Um. We're looking for an..._acquaintance_ of mine."

_'An acquaintance flying a Covenent ship?' _he said doubtfully. He was obviously intelligent. Of course, what AI isn't.

"Ugh. Look, it's a long story. I'll fill you in on the way back, but you have to promise not to tell anyone okay."

_'Okay.'_

_"Wow. That was easy." _I thought to myself.

I, or actually we, came across a cove of some kind. It was actually pretty beautiful. There was a lake on one side of it. There seemed to be only one way in and out by foot. The only other option I could see was flying in and out.

Just then something black flew up in front of us. It scared me to death and I instantly fell back.

_'Hiccup. What. Was that?'_ asked the AI.

I got up and crawled over to the edge of a small cliff near the entrance. I saw the Nightfury's ship hover across the lake and crashed on the ground. The hatch opened and the Nightfury came out. He walked over to the front of the ship and started messing with it.

"Congratulations buddy. You're the first AI to see a Nightfury." I whispered.

_'That's a Nightfury? Wow. So you really did shoot one down.'_

"Yeah. I did." Someone actually acknowledged that I did something right. It felt good. Then something occurred to me. "Why doesn't he just fly away?"

_'I don't know.'_

I activated my helmets recording device and took some pictures of the Nightfury and the ship. I leaned in a little closer and accidentally made a rock fall. The noise of its fall made the Nightfury freeze. He then slowly turned his head and looked straight at us. I looked into his eyes for the second time and could tell that he was curious.

_'Odd.'_ said the AI,_ 'It looks like he recognizes you.'_

The Nightfury then slowly went back to working on his ship. I turned and left.

* * *

~Mess hall~

* * *

I managed to get back to base just as it started raining, but I was still soaked by the time I got to the mess hall. I had told the AI the story about me and the Nightfury. He certainly seemed intrigued by the story, and it's outcome. He agreed to not tell anyone about the Nightfury. Apparently he was given some of the same qualities and interests that I posses.

I walked into the mess hall and found the others gathered around a table listening to Gobber go over training. I went to grab some food.

"Alright. Where did Astrid go wrong in the arena today?" asked Gobber.

"I mistimed my somersault dive. It was sloppy. It threw off my reverse tumble." remarked Astrid. Always trying to improve herself, when she was already perfect.

"No no. It was perfect. It was so, Astrid." said Snotlout. I don't know why he even bothers. He's been trying to hit on her for over a year, and she's been rejecting him from the start.

"She's right. You have to be tough on yourselves." commented Gobber. "Where did Hiccup go wrong today?" Oh no. Here it comes. And right when I'm walking by to sit down at a different table.

Ruffnut was first. "Uh, he showed up."

"He didn't get eaten."

"He's never where he should be." That last remark was from Astrid. For some reason it hurt more than the others. Probably because one, I have a crush on her. Two, I hold her opinion above almost everyone else's, except maybe my father. And three, it was pretty much true. I always ended up in the one place I was needed the least.

"Thank you, Astrid." said Gobber sarcastically. At least he stood up for me. "You need to live and breathe this stuff."

He then threw a holo projector onto the table. "The guide to the enemy. This file contains everything about every Covenant we know of."

The sounds of lightning from the thunderstorm overhead could be heard. Gobber looked up as if inspecting the storm.

"No attacks tonight. Better take this time to read up." he said before walking out.

"Wait? Read?" said Tuff.

"While we're still alive?" Ruff completed.

"Why read words when you can just kill the stuff the words tell you stuff about." added Snotlout.

Fishlegs then started bursting with boring facts about the different Covenant covered in the file. Which apparantly he read seven times. Everyone else just got bored listening to him.

"Yeah. That's great. There was a chance I was going to read that." started Tuff.

"But now." Ruff ended nonchalantly.

"You guys read. I'll go kill stuff." said Snotlout before marching out of the mess and back to our quarters.

I walked over to the table where only Astrid remained. The others had followed Snotlout.

"So I guess you and I could share..."

"Read it." she put quickly and slid the file over to me. She then got up and started to leave.

"Oh, all mine then. Well then I guess I'll see you," the door closed. "Tomorrow."

I then took the file and started to read.

"Covenant classification. Warrior class, fear class, tech class.". I then started reading through the various kinds of Covenant soldiers and their gear. I stopped at the last entry, titled.

"Nightfury. Size: Unknown. Speed: Unkown. Strength: Unkown. An Elite that has been genetically crossed with lighting and death itself. DO NOT CONFRONT AT ALL COSTS. If you find yourself in the presence of this monster. Hide and hope it doesn't find you."

My AI then thought it appropriate to pull up the video of the Nightfury I had taken earlier. I then decided to head in and get some sleep.

* * *

~Sector 10 ( Helheim's Gate )~

* * *

Stoic and his men traveled on the edge of Sector ten.

"We're so close. I can smell their filth from here."

Stoic looked up from his map and into the dense jungle accompanied by thick fog that now lay in front of them.

"Take us in." he ordered. He could hear the scared, unsure voices of his men.

"90 degrees west."

"To Helheim's Gate."

The convoy rolled into the jungle. Everything became quiet. Too quiet. Suddenly, without warning. They're being fired upon by long range artillery.

* * *

~Base: Squad Quarters~ ~Astrid-201~

* * *

I sat in my bunk until my squad mates had gone to sleep. For some odd reason I couldn't decided on what to make Stormfly look like. All the others had done it fairly quickly. Snotlout's was a big muscle bound guy named Hookfang. Tuffnut's was a girl, but oddly named her Belch. Ruff's was a handsome guy, named Barf. Then there was Fishlegs, who's AI was a girl named Meatlug. Why do we have such weird names? Mine may not have been exactly "normal", but at least it didn't sound like an insult.

I decided to lie down and take a break from thinking. I'd have to get back to it in the morning though. Tomorrow was the day we started working with our AIs in training. Today had been what some might call, a warm up.

I heard the door open and close. I barely opened my eyes and saw a familiar skinny figure walking into the barracks. It was Hiccup. He sat down on his bunk, which was across the aisle from mine, and pulled off his helmet. He pulled out a holo computer and seemed to have just started working on his AI.

Weird, I thought he had been doing that earlier. Of course, I didn't keep track of everything he did, plus I was training all day. He seemed to have skipped the naming part for now and instantly started working on his AI's appearance.

I lay there watching him put the final touches on. He then activated the holoprojector to display his AI's appearance in a 3D image. I was surprised by what I saw. It wasn't a girl, or a guy, it wasn't even human. It was a dragon.

A sleek dragon with four legs and two big wings and a medium length tail. There were two smaller fin like wings just below the big ones. At the end of the tail were two fins, obviously for aerodynamic flight reasons. It's head was blunt and aerodynamic. At the back of its head were several flap like things. Two of them were bigger than the others.

Hiccup then started manipulating the model. Making the big ear like things move up and down. I remember seeing some animals move their ears like that before, so I assumed that's what they were. He then manipulated the wings to open and close. Same with the tail fin. He then opened the mouth and looked inside. But there were no teeth, just gums. He pressed a button and a row of sharp teeth jumped out of the gums.

He then typed in the name and finished. I saw his new AI project itself (The genders had been set for us. So it could have been a girl dragon for all I know.) and tested its new construct form. It seemed to approve and wirelessly transferred itself back into his helmet. Hiccup then put away his stuff and went to sleep.

I lied there thinking things over. Hiccup had just given me an idea for Stormfly's appearance. But it would have to wait till the morning. I was too tired right now.


	6. Ch 6: Focus Hiccup!

Ch. 6 Focus Hiccup!

* * *

~Astrid-201: Dragon Trainning arena~

* * *

Today was our first day working with our AIs to give us assistance. I had gotten up early and designed Stromfly's appearance.

* * *

Gobber had set up the arena like a giant maze today. There wasn't a wraith today. Instead he sent in 10 Jackals, 3 Gronkles, 5 Brutes, a Nightmare, and a Nadder driving a Ghost. This time Gobber decided it might work better if they were **real** Covenant. The maze gave the Ghost poor maneuverability, but it filled the entire aisle so you couldn't dodge to the side if it tried to run you down. The Gronkles had been easy, even Fishlegs managed to accidentally stick one, who then ran into another. Snotlout, surprisingly, managed to kill the last Gronkle as well as two of the Jackals. Tuffnut managed to kill three Jackals, while his sister Ruff managed to get three others. With Stormfly's help I managed to take down the final two Jackals, four of the Brutes, and I was currently working on taking out the Ghost driving Nadder. Hiccup, however, hadn't killed anything. He was just standing there talking to Gobber about Nightfurys. I don't know why. Nobody knew anything about them.

I could hear his questions over the comm system.

"So I noticed the file had nothing on Nightfurys. Is there a sequel, a part two, maybe a Nightfury pamphlet. Woah."

I skidded to a halt as I heard a blast from Hiccup's comm. I kept hearing gunfire. I then heard Hiccup's voice. "Toothless. Get me a way out of here."

_Toothless? Odd name for an AI._

"Stormfly. What's going on?"

"_Just a minute._" answered Stormfly, _"It seems Hiccup ran into the Nightmare and is being chased by it a few aisles over."_

"Find me a way to intercept the Nightmare. I'm sure not having any luck finding the Ghost."

_"Course charted. Head forward, take a left, then a right, take the second left, and you'll be heading straight for them."_

"Okay. Let me know of any changes."

I took off and followed Stormfly's directions. She updated me on where to turn. I took a right and saw Hiccup and the Nightmare heading straight for me.

"Hiccup! Down!"

Fortunately that was one of the few orders Hiccup was good at following. He ducked to the ground. I pulled out my SMGs and fired both clips into the Nightmare. They only managed to lower its shields. I tossed them up and grabbed them by the stocks. When the Nightmare was in range I bashed him in the head with the foregrip on one and then drove both guns fore grips into its skull. I pulled the guns out and reholstered them. They were slightly dented. I'd have to get them fixed later.

I heard the twins voices over the comm.

"Ugh. Do you ever bathe?"

"You don't like it? Get your own hiding spot."

_"Hey we were here first."_ Came Belch's voice.

_"Yeah. Well, we were here second."_ said Barf.

"Oh I'll give you a reason to hide. Waagghh."

"Great. Sounds like the twins AIs have the same bickering personality that they have." Said Hiccup.

"Stormfly. What's happening?"

_"It seems the twins have run into the last brute."_

_"And it appears to have gone berserk._" Said a voice that I wasn't familiar with. It must have been Toothless.

"Alright Stormfly. Let's go save their hides."

I ran down several aisles before I could hear Tuff and Ruff's yelling from the other side of a wooden wall. I ran a few paces ahead and pulled out my spartan laser. I charged the shot and aimed for the wall. I heard the twins yells indicating they had come and gone. I could then hear the Brute's berserk yelling. I needed to time it right. The laser fired, blasting a hole in the wall. I looked through the hole and saw a half incinerated brute corpse lying there.

"And then there was one."

Now I just needed to locate the Ghost driving Nadder. I regrouped with Snotlout and Hiccup on one side of the arena while Fishlegs and the twins regrouped on the other. I could hear the echoing sound of the Ghost engines. They sounded faint. Hiccup's voice, however, was loud and clear.

"So how would one sneak up on a Nightfury?"

"No one's ever seen one and lived to tell the tale." came Gobber's voice, surprisingly calm considering how annoying Hiccup was getting to be. "Now. GET IN THERE!"

Disregard what I just said.

"Okay okay. I was just wondering. Hypothetically."

"Hiccup!" I whispered to him. The Ghost was just around the corner. "Get down." I whispered to him. I needed a better angle so I combat rolled into some different cover, and the others followed suit. Or, at least Snotlout did. Hiccup tripped on something and caught the Ghost's attention. He got up and ran. Leading it strait to us.

I had a clear shot with my spartan laser. I was about to fire when Snotlout pushed me out of the way.

"Hey!"

"Don't worry babe. I got this."

_Babe!? Nobody calls me _babe. I scowl at him as he fires his rocket launcher. He had a clear shot. And missed by an entire ten feet. I start glaring holes into him, but had to cease as the Ghost started to come after us. Snotlout making excuses along the way.

"The sun was in my eyes Astrid. What do you want me to do? Block out the sun? I could do that, but I just don't have the time right now."

We split up and the Ghost chose to follow me. For some reason Hiccup wasn't even paying attention. He was still asking questions about Nightfurys!

"Has anyone ever seen one napping?" What kind of a question is that anyway?

I take a grenade and let it cook for a while before I drop it. The grenade goes off under the Ghost, causing it to go crazy. I turn a corner just barely dodging the Ghost that crashed into the wall. The Nadder got out and continued the chase as the walls started to fall down in a domino effect.

I ended up scrambling on top of the walls as they were falling. I jumped from wall to wall until there wasn't any more walls to jump onto. Instead I ended up jumping straight towards Hiccup.

"Hiccup!" I shouted as I fell. He turned and looked just as I landed on top of him.

I was on top of Hiccup, our legs were locked together, and there was a Nadder several yards away. This was not good. The taunts from our squad mates weren't helping either.

"Oooooh. Love on the battlefield." Said Tuff.

"She could do better." Responded Ruff.

I kept trying to get out of our awkward situation, while Hiccup just kept starting sentences he never finished.

"Why don't...how about...I'll just...ow."

I managed to get us untangled. I got up to see the Nadder crawling out of the debre and charging straight for us. I gasped as I looked around for a weapon. I saw my energy axe lying under Hiccup. I grabbed it and pulled but it wouldn't budge. Somehow the strap had wound its way around his arm, and his hand was stuck under debris. I really needed to get that strap removed, I never used it anyway.

The Nadder was getting closer. I kept pulling and pulling. I finally planted my foot on Hiccup's head for leverage and pulled. I knew stepping on his head was mean, but I had bigger things to worry about. The strap broke and swung the axe up, powering it up. The Nadder was feet away and I swung the axe down. The axe buried into the Nadder's head, stopping it dead in its tracks.

"Good job Astrid." Complemented Gobber, but I didn't really care.

I pulled the axe out of the Nadder's head. I threw off my helmet and turned towards Hiccup. It was time he started taking this seriously.

"Is this some kind of a game to you? Humanity's war is about to become our own." I pointed my axe straight at his head threateningly. It was an inch away from his face. "Figure out which side you're on."

I turned away from him, turned off my axe, and put it back on my back. I picked my helmet up and put it back on. I started to walk out when Stormfly spoke to me.

_"Don't you think you were a little hard on him?"_

"He could have cost me my life. I think I'm entitled to be hard on him."


	7. Ch 7: Forbidden Friendship

Ch. 7: Forbidden Friendship

* * *

~Hiccup-200~

* * *

I left the base after training. Astrid had been pretty hard on me. Although I guess I had it coming. Training with actual living enemies trying to kill you with real weapons is probably not the best time to ask questions.

I was going back to the cove where I last saw the Nightfury. I brought some meat along with me. It had probably been a while since he had last eaten. I was going to try to make friends with him. Something inside of me just told me that he wasn't dangerous. In fact I designed Toothless after the impression I got from him. I gave Toothless' dragon form retractable teeth.

_Not what it seems to be. _That was what had been going through my head. _Dangerous looking, but harmless. Well, maybe not _completely_ harmless._

I reached the cove and looked down into it. The Nightfury was nowhere in sight. I snuck down and slowly walked toward the center of the cove. I stopped as I could feel a pair of eyes staring me down from behind. I slowly turned and saw him standing there, a few feet from me, energy swords drawn. I was wearing my helmet but I could tell he was looking straight into my eyes.

"What are you doing here human?" He asked.

I slowly removed my helmet and placed it on the ground, along with the weapons I had brought with me. I took out the meat and showed it too him.

"I-I thought you might be hungry. So I brought you something to eat."

He looked at me slightly startled. He had obviously not expected that answer. He looked at the meat, then the weapons, then back at me.

"You mean you aren't here to kill me?"

"I didn't before. Why would I now?"

He turned off his energy swords and reholstered them. He took a few steps towards me and snatched the meat out of my hands.

"Thank you." He said, before turning away and walking to the other side of the cove. I could hear Toothless' voice coming out of my helmet.

_"That went well."_

The Nightfury had eaten the meat and was now messing with the ship again. He apparently had it cloaked, because I sure hadn't seen it there before. I picked up my helmet and held it under my arm. I then walked over to him.

"What do you want?" He asked, not turning away from his work.

"I just wanted to know if there was anything I could do to help."

"You're not like other Spartans are you? Most Spartans would have killed me, much less asked to help me."

"Most Covenant would have killed me, much less let me go."

"True." He turned back to working on the ship. I took a few steps and peered into it. It was full of advanced technological equipment. Some of it was fried beyond recognition as a part of the ship.

"So what's wrong with it?"

"Some of the systems are fried. Beyond that I'm not entirely sure. I didn't make the ship. They gave me it to fly."

I could hear Toothless doing something, probably scanning the ship's inner workings.

_"It seems that the anti-gravity matrix is damaged, which is why you can only fly for so long before you crash. The stabilizer and directional controls also appear damaged, and the weapon system controls are gone entirely. Oh, and the communications have been destroyed beyond any hope of repair."_

"What was that?"

"Oh. That was Toothless." I said patting my helmet. Toothless then transferred to my wrist hologram display and revealed himself.

"An AI construct. And a smart one at that." I wasn't sure if he was surprised that I had an AI with me, or that Toothless looked like a dragon. "Where did you get him."

"He was given to me for a special program I'm in. Don't worry. We can trust him."

"Do you think he could fix my ship?"

_"I can tell you how to fix it. However, getting the parts and actually making the repairs will have to be up to you two. Plus I don't guarantee anything. I know the basic parts, but this ship is advanced even for me."_ Toothless admitted.

"Well then, Hiccup. I guess this is a start of an unlikely friendship." He said holding out his hand. I took it and we shook.

"My name is Nogard."

"Hiccup. It's a pleasure to meet you."

"Likewise."

"Nogard. You mind if I ask you something?"

"What?"

"Why do you only target buildings and vehicles that are unoccupied? As far as I know, you've never killed anyone. You could have annihilated us by now, but you didn't."

He looked off into the distance like he was pondering something. "The truth is, I'm not sure where I stand in this war. I do not completely believe in the prophets, or their _great journey_."

"What do you mean?"

"The prophets say we are doing this to please the gods. But I do not see how the slaughtering of entire species would please them. And then there was Halo. We were told it was a great weapon. One that would destroy the enemy known as the Flood."

I shivered. I had heard about what happened on Halo, just like everyone else.

"Yet I do not understand how it could do such a thing. The Flood are your enemy just as much as they are mine. Yet your race tries to stop us from using a weapon that would wipe them out. You surely must have a reason for doing so. I do not kill your kind because they are no threat to me, and you may be in the right. But I do not disobey the Covenant, because of my allegiance."

"You're not far off. We do try to stop you for activating Halo, and we do have a reason. On that first Halo, another AI managed to break into Halo's network. She then found out that the rings don't destroy the Flood, they destroy their food source."

"Which is everything."

"Yes. If the Covenant had activated Halo that entire section of the galaxy would not exist anymore."

"I know from your actions that you would not lie to me. So that means we have been trying to rush to our own destruction rather than fight it."

I just stood there in silence as a yes.

"There is something else. For a while now there seems to be sayings of a betrayal against the Elites. I do not know when this will happen, but I fear it will be soon."

"Well then. I guess we better start working on getting you back."

* * *

~Later that day. Astrid-201~

We were all sitting around a fire as Gobber told us old war stories. Currently it was the one about how he lost his arm.

"And then with one snap, the foul beast took my arm. But it wasn't over then, because I could see the look in his eye. I was delicious. He must have passed the word because it wasn't a week when another one took my leg."

"Ooohhh." Most of my squad mates said. Except Hiccup who seemed to be lost in thought.

"Isn't it weird to think you hand was inside of that thing."

_Here we go again._

"Like, if your mind was still in control of your hand. You could have killed it by crushing its heart or something."

"Ugh, I'm so angry right now." Now Snotlout was getting caught in the moment. "I promise I'll avenge your beautiful hand, and your beautiful foot. I'll chop off the arms and legs of every enemy I fight. With my face."

As funny as it would be to see him actually try that, I doubted it would work.

I looked up across from me and saw that Hiccup had disappeared. I got up and walked over to the stairs in time to just glimpse him going down. I thought about going after him. But it was probably nothing.

* * *

_**So for those of you who might be confused on why the Nightfury isn't Toothless here's a brief explanation. When writing this story I couldn't decide if I wanted Toothless to be an AI or an Elite. So I decided to do both. Toothless is the AI, Nogard (yes, his name is dragon spelled backwards.) is the Nightfury, and they both sort of combine rolls in the story as Hiccup's best friend. As always, feel free to leave a review.**_


	8. Ch 8: Repairs

~ Hiccup-200~

* * *

_ That night I decided to leave Gobber's barbecue early. There wasn't anything that interested me going on. Just Snotlout saying he would cut off the Covenant's legs with his face. Like that'll ever happen._

Toothless and I snuck into the mechanical storage warehouse. He then started telling me things he thought we would need if we were going to get Nogard airborne again. It took us all night but we finally got the supplies.

Since it was early we decided to go ahead and go drop the supplies off before training. I still needed breakfast, so we stopped by food storage and grabbed some things. I would have to cook them later.

We arrived at the cove to find Nogard trying to catch some fish.

"I brought some stuff with me if the fish aren't biting."

"Hiccup." He said, turning to face me.

"We got the supplies. And I figured you'd probably want some more to eat."

"Thank you again. Do you wish to eat first or get started on the repairs?"

"I think you and Toothless should work on the repairs, since you guys know more about this stuff than I do. I'll get the food ready."

"Very well."

For the next twenty minutes I cooked the food while they worked on the ship. I had placed my helmet on the edge of the ship's engine housing so Toothless could observe while he told Nogard what to do. They went through the stuff we had brought rather quick. Only about half of it was left when the food was done.

"Breakfast for those of you who eat."

Nogard grabbed Toothless and we sat down to eat. Nogard picked up a piece of toast and sniffed it. Whatever he smelled surprised him.

"Is that, cinnamon?"

"Um, yes?"

"Been a while since I've had that."

"You mean, you like cinnamon?"

"Yes. But we never get to eat it because of the Grunts and Gronkles."

"What about them?"

"They hate the stuff. Won't go anywhere near it."

"Why?"

"Not sure. They say its some form of poison."

"Huh. That sure is useful to know. I might actually have to try that during training."

"You mean you aren't a full soldier yet?"

"Well, more or less. I'm a soldier, but I'm not a very good one. Actually, I'm considered the worst Spartan of all time."

"Nonsense. You caught me didn't you."

"Yeah. That was more of a fluke. Plus it was my automated turret that caught you more than I did."

"You still made it though."

"Good point. But I don't see how this will get me through Dragon Training. Which is the reason I have Toothless. I mean, I can't aim, I can't accurately throw a grenade, and I can't fight to save my life."

"I could help you with that."

"What?"

"I could help you learn how to fight, and the rest of that stuff. You're already helping me with my ship. So I'm going to return the favor."

"Yeah well lets see if the ship works first."

I had finished eating so I got up and walked over to the ship. I looked "under the hood" and saw what Toothless and Nogard had done. I had at first doubted that I would be much help, but when I looked into the ship, I somehow knew what everything did. I also saw several mistakes in the repairs. I guess all those books on rocket science, and advanced mechanics really did help. So, I fixed them.

Nogard and Toothless watched me as I used up most of the remaining parts. When I was finished Nogard walked over to the cockpit and climbed in. He turned on the ship and made it hover in the air. It wasn't shorting out or anything. We had done it. He then pushed something and it sent the ship rocketing foward. Right into me.

The wing hit me and I held on. Why, I haven't the slightest idea. We flew across the cove. We were about to hit a wall when Nogard pulled up at the last second. We flew up out of the cove and flew in a circle above it. That was when the engines started failing.

We slowly descended into the cove again. Suddenly the ship took a sharp turn sending me flying into the water. I managed to get above the water in time to see the ship crash into the shore of the lake.

Nogard got out and looked across the lake and spotted us.

"Hiccup. Are you alright?"

"Yeah. I'm fine. I think we still have some work to do though."

"Hiccup." Toothless broke in. "We're going to be late for training."

~Dragon Training arena. Astrid-201~

Hiccup arrived just as Gobber opened the gate for us into the arena. He was almost late. Where had he even been? I hadn't seen him since last night. He wasn't in his bunk when we got back and he wasn't there when we got up. He had his helmet off and was putting it on as we entered. He looked tired. Had he even gone to bed last night? And was it just me or did his hair look slightly, wet?

We walked into the arena to see it was like the first day we had been there. Empty. Wait...no. There seemed to be smoke leaking out one of the doors. The door burst opened covering the entire arena in smoke. Our group of six slowly drifted apart. I could barely see Ruffnut standing next to me. The silence was killing me.

"Stormfly. What's going on?" I asked on an open channel so everyone could hear.

_"I'm sensing movement in the smoke. And it's not ours."_

"Alright, everyone use this channel to communicate. Watch your motion sensors and listen to your AIs."

"Today's challenge is teamwork." Came Gobber's voice over the comm. "You're going to have to work together and trust each other if you want to survive. The Hiddeous Zippleback is a very tricky creature. They like to hide and strike when you least expect."

_Oh great. Zipplebacks. Half Gronkle, Half Nadder, all nasty. Oh, and Fishlegs' complaining wasn't helping._

"Razor sharp claws, can inject venom that slowly eats its prey inside out. It prefers stealth attack to-"

"Will you please stop that!" Hiccup almost shouted.

_Wow. Never thought I would be saying this, but thank you Hiccup._

"Stormfly. Update."

_"It seems you've all split up into groups. There's you and Ruffnut. Hiccup and Fishlegs. And Snotlout and Tuffnut."_

The silence went on, until Snotlout could no longer keep his mouth shut that is.

"If that Zippleback shows its head around here. I'll- there!"

There were gunshots and suddenly me and Ruff were being hit with gunfire. We dropped to the floor, thankfully we had shields or else we would have been Swiss cheese.

"Hey! It's us idiots." Ruffnut called out.

"Wow. You girls are getting fat. We thought you were a Zippleback." Tuffnut responded.

_Oh no they didn't._

"Not that there's anything wrong with...a Zippleback-" he didn't get to finish his attempt to woo me, as I punched him across the face sending him to the ground. Ruffnut then foolishly throws her gun at her brother's head. He falls over and before he can get back up something grabs him and pulls him into the smoke. I can hear his yells for help. Ruffnut almost rushes in, but something told me that would be bad. I hold out my arm to stop her.

"Wait."

Something trips us from behind causing me to drop by Battle Rifle. We then see Tuffnut exiting the receding smoke yelling in pain.

"Oh I'm hurt. I am _very much_ hurt."

I turn to see a large Zippleback walking towards Fishlegs. It's tail dragging behind it. That must have been what tripped us. Fishlegs was quickly backing away. He took several steps before aiming. But nothing happened. He was now face to face with the Zippleback.

"Oh, gun jammed." I heard him say before the Zippleback roared in his face. Fishlegs then ran off screaming in the same direction as Tuffnut.

The Zippleback now turned towards Hiccup. The Zippleback slowly walked towards him.

"Now Hiccup!" I heard Gobber call over the comm.

Hiccup pulled out a plasma grenade and threw it. Surprisingly enough he stuck the Zippleback. We waited several seconds, but nothing happened. It was a dud.

"Oh come on." I heard him complain. I had to agree with him this time. The one time he actually sticks someone, and its a dud.

The Zippleback rushed towards him. I grab my Spartan Laser and aim, but something stops me. I looked and saw the Zippleback recoiling in...fear?

Hiccup was standing there a few feet in front of it, hands stretched out in front of him, ordering it to get back.

"Back. Back. That's right you heard me."

I couldn't believe my eyes. I took my helmet off to make sure I was seeing this right. He was ordering a Zippleback to go into its cage, and not only was the Zippleback listening. It was scared of Hiccup!

I saw the Zippleback back into its cage, Hiccup still talking to it.

"That's right. Now think about what you've done."

I then saw him close the door and turn to us like nothing happened. We were all staring at him. I was so shocked I even involuntarily dropped my helmet. As did a few others.

"Okay. So, uh, is that it? Because I have some...I gotta go." He started running towards the exit. "See you tomorrow."

As I looked from him to the Zippleback's cage, only one thing went through my mind.

_What just happened here?_

* * *

**_So, there's chapter 8. Yes, the Grunts worst enemy, is _****cinnamon****_. What? Grunts were created for the sole purpose of being made fun of. Anyway, hope you guys are enjoying the story._**


	9. Ch 9: Training

_**Hey guys, sorry about the longer than usual wait. I was busy writing for one of my other stories and updating this one completely slipped my mind. Anyway, enough excuses, on with the reading.**_

* * *

Ch. 9: Training

* * *

Over the next few weeks me Nogard and Toothless made several adjustments to the ship. We started off by fixing the antigravity generator. Then we fixed the stabilizers and flight controls. After several test flights and incorporated human flight tech; the ship was up and running. The only thing the ship lacked was weapons.

"Well, the ship is up and running again. So, I guess this is goodbye." I said holding out my hand for one final shake. Nogard just turned and looked at me.

"I don't think so." He said, "I doubt that the Covenant will take too kindly to my return after so long. Not to mention the large amount of human technology incorporated into my ship."

"Oh. Sooo, now what?"

"I guess I'll stay here. I have no where to go. Plus. Then I won't be leavening behind a friend."

I smiled at that. I had a feeling he was smiling at me too. It was kind of hard to tell with the mandibles.

"Well. If your staying. We better get some weapons working."

When we weren't working on the ship, Nogard had been training me. And before I knew it I was aiming better, was more aware of my surroundings, and could hold my own and then some in hand-to-hand. Nogard also taught me several things about Covenant. He showed me weaknesses in their armor, as well as some tricks. Apparently if Brutes get close enough to this weird plant that grows on this planet, they go into this trancelike state and doze off to sleep. Also you can shut off Jackals, and Nadder's shields by emitting a certain radio signal.

Armed with this, I was soaring through training. Not to mention, people were actually starting to like me now.

~Astrid-201: STC-Battlefield simulator~

I HATE HICCUP!

Somehow, I don't know how, but he had suddenly gotten good. HOW! How did this happen! One day I'm telling him to take this seriously, and now he's beating me at Dragon Training.

Over the past few days he's been flying through training. One day he's bringing a berserk Brute to its knees with his fist, then he disables a Jackal's shields without even hitting or shooting them, and then he's making Nightmares fall unconscious just by being in the same general area as them. Not to mention he's gotten better at shooting, and he's even beaten everyone but me in hand to hand combat. One day he had just gone up to a group of Grunts, said "_boo_" and they ran back into their cage screaming. On second thought, that last one wasn't quite as strange, they were Grunts after all.

"Wow. He's better than you ever were." Tuffnut had even dared to comment. I ended up knocking his lights out afterwards, much to his sister's enjoyment.

I was doing my weekly training routine. I uploaded Stormfly into the main computer and she designed my mission for the week. It was usually search and destroy. She designed everything from the arena, to the class of enemy troops. Today it was some ancient ruins filled with covenant. Mostly Brutes. Just the way I like it.

I put on my helmet and stepped into the arena. The gate closed behind me.

"Simulation started." Said Stormfly as she re-uploaded into my helmet. Then I rush head first into ruins.

I first thing I encounter is a wave of Grunts and Jackals. I made quick work of them with my dual SMG's. Then I cut down several Brutes with my energy axe. Spilling their holographic blood all over the walls and streets.

I came across more Brutes accompanied by Nadders. I led with a plasma grenade, followed by more SMG fire. My clips emptied and I charged in with my energy axe. Cutting them down, letting out my rage onto them.

The next wave came in. It was composed of Nightmares and Nadders. The Nightmares were bunched together in the middle of the street. The Nadders had taken position on the tops of the walls. I took out my Spartan Laser and aimed straight for the Nightmares. I blew a hole in the middle of their group taking more than half of them out.

I then stuck two of the Nadders with plasmas. I took cover as the others started firing at me.

"Stormfly did you get video?"

"Yes." Stormfly then pulled up a video from my helmet of the area.

"Freeze it." I stopped the video at a shot with all the Nadders in view. I started charging my laser. I timed it perfectly. I got up and aimed just before the laser fired, hitting a Nadder straight in the chest. I got back down and tossed a few flame grenades in the direction of the Nightmares. I knew got some of them when I heard them start to yell in pain. I got a plasma and jumped over the short wall I was behind. I tossed it, sticking a Nadder in the head. I pulled out my SMGs and took out the last Nadder. The final Nightmare went berserk and charged. I pulled out my Laser and aimed.

The Nightmare was inches from me when the laser fired. Launching his half incinerated corpse back several feet.

Next and last stop, the Covenant base.

I walked down the street. Straight towards the base. I reloaded my SMGs. I threw several grenades into the base, taking out several Nightmares. I took cover, however, when the Hunters came out. I picked up a shotgun and turned invisible.

Gotta love the new armor.

I sneaked up behind the Hunter and shot it point blank in the back, where the armor didn't protect it. It died instantly. Unfortunately, I was visible now and the second Hunter had noticed. It fired its arm canon at me as I raced back into the ruins.

I climbed up onto one of the walls. The Hunter was still looking for me on the ground. I snuck up on it and jumped. I landed on its back. Catching it by surprise. There was a slight struggle but I managed to get the shotguns barrel into a small opening at the base of its neck and fired. The Hunter slumped over dead. I walked into the base and set the charges. One last Nightmare decided to go berserk and charge me. I took my Spartan laser and aimed while it charged up. This time I imagined Hiccup's face on its head.

**SCHOOM!** The laser fired blowing the Nightmare's head clean off. I got up and turned to leave.

As I passed a doorway, I didn't even look as I tossed a grenade into it. I could hear a sound of surprise from a Gronkle just before the grenade went off.

Hiccup. You better watch out. Because I'm coming after you next.

~Outside the STC Dragon Training arena~

After I took a shower my temper had gone down. I was still frustrated that Hiccup of all people was beating me. But I no longer wanted to rip his head off. Chief had taught me better than that. I was still suspicious about his newfound skills though.

As I walked out of the arena, I was knocked over by none other than Hiccup. Who for some reason was carrying a Spartan Laser. Since when did he ever use one of those?

We got up and just stared at each other. He then picked up the laser and ran off around the corner. I went after him. I needed to know how he was doing it. I turned the corner and he was gone. He must have used his invisibility upgrade. I kicked the side of the building in frustration.


	10. Ch 10: First Flight

Chapter 10: First Flight

* * *

~Gen. Stoick~

We pulled into the base with only a third of the group we had set out with. Everyone else had been killed. Only a few Hornets, one Falcon, two Elephants, and a Warthog were the only vehicles that made it out. I got out of the crowded Elephant to see Col. Gobber waiting to greet us back.

"So I take it you found the base at least?" In his normal enthusiasm.

After our loses however, I was in no mood for it. "Not even close." I responded gruffly.

"Oh." Gobber replied with loss of enthusiasm. "Excellent."

"I trust you've had more success than I have." To be honest, those Dragon Trainees could be our only hope against the enemy now.

"If by success you mean that you parenting troubles are over. Then, yes."

What did he mean by that? Just then several soldiers came up to us. Surprisingly happy.

"Congratulations Stoick. Everyone is SO relieved."

"Out with the old and in with the new right."

"No one will miss that old nuisance."

"The whole base is throwing a party to celebrate."

Out with the old? Miss that nuisance? That could only mean...Hiccup. Which means. "He's gone?"

Gobber just looked at me and sounded nervous. "Yeah,"

_Oh no._

"Most afternoons."

_Wait. What? _

"But who can blame him. The life of a celebrity is very rough. He can barely walk through the base without being swarmed by his new fans." He said with pride.

"Hiccup?"

"Who would of thought it ehh. The kid has this, _way_ with the beasts."

* * *

~Hiccup-200~

"That was a close one." I told Toothless as we walked to the cove. Astrid had almost caught us.

_"She didn't seem very happy to see us either."_ Commented Toothless as we stepped into the cove.

We walked down into the cove and walked over to where Nogard was waiting for us. He got up to greet us. I took off my helmet and set it aside.

I had brought the Spartan laser for Nogard. We saw that his Nightfury fusion cannon was broken. After taking some scans, Toothless and I found a way to combine it with a Spartan Laser, which would make it even more powerful.

After some work we finally got it to function. We tested it out on a boulder. After we fired it; all that was left was a crater.

"Well. Now that we have that finished. Lets take the ship on its first official test flight." I said.

Several minutes later we were flying above the oceans of Berk. Nogard was flying, while I manned the weapons. We had upgraded the weapons. There were dual Nightfury canons mounted under the wings, and at the front were dual miniguns mounted side by side.

"All right. Lets take it easy."

Nogard took us closer to the water. We flew under a natural archway and past some birds. I looked around in awe at how beautiful it was. I had been flying in hornets before. Why was I only noticing this stuff now?

Nogard then took us straight up. We flew higher and higher. Suddenly an idea came into my head. I took off my helmet and secured it onto the dashboard. I then opened the modified Banshee like cockpit all the way. We had split it in half so that when it opened it split into two pieces. I stood up as far as I could while still holding on.

"Haha. Ohh this is AMAZING!" It truly was. The feeling of the wind in my face. The sudden feeling of zero gravity, and then the feeling of gravity pulling you back. Wait. "The engine!"

I felt the ship fall out from under me and I lost my grip. Me and the ship were free falling.

"Oh man! Oh man!"

"Hiccup! Hiccup!" I could barely hear Nogard over the wind and my yelling.

"Okay, just try to angle the ship towards," the ship was suddenly coming for me and the wing hit me, "Ow!"

We were about 5,000 feet from the ground, I estimated. Nogard seemed to have managed to get ship to stay in a straight nosedive. The open co-pilot cockpit was facing me. I leaned towards it and pulled myself into it. Once I was in I closed the cockpit.

"Nogard. I'm in."

"We've still lost the engines."

"Toothless!"

_"I'm trying to restart the engines now."_

We were 1,000 feet above the ground when I heard the engines come back to life.

"Hold on." Nogard warned me.

He pulled up causing us to fly straight into a maze of rock pillars. He was a very good pilot. We dodged and weaved through the pillars. We finally faced a last one and I fired both Nightfury cannons, blowing the pillar up. We flew through unscathed. I was so relieved I couldn't hold it in any longer.

"YEESSS!" I yelled.

_"Woohoo!"_ Toothless yelled. He appeared on the holoprojector and was bouncing around with joy. Nogard let out an Elite roar of victory.

We had survived.

We then returned to the cove. On the way Toothless analyzed the engine problem. Thankfully it was easily fixed.

When we were done I gave Nogard one final thing. A modified human radio. I had taken it and modified it so Nogard could contact me on my helmet comm, hopefully, without anyone else hearing. I then returned back to base.

~Installation-117: Barracks~

I sat on my bunk for a while just messing with my computer. I didn't even notice the tall figured enter the room.

"Everybody out." Called a familiar deep voice.

I was startled and quickly closed my computer. I looked up to see my dad standing to the side to let everyone out. I started to get up, but he just pointed at me.

"Not you."

I sat back down as the last of my squad mates left. Dad then started walking over towards me.

"So, uh, dad. You're back. Umm...can I help you?"

"Actually I came here to talk to you." He said standing before me. It was rather intimidating.

"Oh really. Umm."

"Just how long did you think you could keep it from me?"

"Umm I don't know what you're talking abo-"

"Nothing happens around this base without me knowing about it."

_ Oh no. Nogard._

"Oh man. Look dad. I was going to tell you but..." Wait a minute. He was laughing. He never laughed. I nervously joined in. "Haha. You mean you're not, upset?"

"What!? I was hoping for this."

_Oookay, are we talking about the same thing?_

"Uhh. You, were?" I asked.

"Oh and believe me. It only gets better. Just wait until you spill a Hunters guts for the first time. And bash you first Brute head in."

_Ohh, this was about Dragon Training. He obviously didn't know about Gobber sending in live Covenant yet. _

"Haha, what a feeling." He gave me a encouraged backhanded pat to my chest. Which sent me falling off the other side of the bed. "You really had me going there son." I got back up. "All those years of the worst Spartan ever seen. Man, it was rough, and all those years you've been holding out on me. Hahaha." For the first time that I can remember, he was smiling at me. "With you doing so well in the ring." He sat on the bed opposite me. "We finally have something to talk about."

We just sat there in an awkward silence. So much for something to talk about.

"Oh, uh. I, brought you something. To keep you safe in the arena." He handed me a knife.

"Um. Wow. Thanks dad."

"Aye. It was your mother's. She would be so proud of you." He pulled out a knife that looked exactly like the one he had given me. "Matching set. Helps...Helps keep her close." Dad was actually getting emotional about this. Of course it was mom, but he still always seemed to keep it stored away somewhere. I realized that an awkward silence had filled the air.

I semi-faked a yawn, it was getting late after all. And I'm sure my squad would like to get some sleep as well rather than wait outside. "I should probably get to bed." Dad seemed to get the idea.

"Oh, uh, right. Well um good talk."

"Yeah, good talk."

"I should um."

"Yeah and thanks for the knife."

"Right. Um I'll see you tomorrow."

"Yeah. See you tomorrow."

As he left through the door I fell back on my bed and let out a deep breathe I hadn't even realized I was holding in. My squad came back in and we all went to sleep. The final round of the tournament was tomorrow.


	11. Ch 11: Discovered

Ch 11: Discovered

* * *

~STC-Dragon Training Arena: Astrid-201~

* * *

We only had a single Nightmare left. The only problem was I was out of ammo for everything but my energy axe. The Nightmare had a Grav. Hammer, and was wielding it like it had been using one since it was a kid. I was a little reluctant, Gravity Hammers were something that was best dealt with from long range. I ducked behind some cover to avoid being spotted. To my surprise Hiccup was right next to me. We were the only two left in the tournament. This was it, this would decide who wins. I looked at him threateningly. I was wearing my helmet, but I knew people could tell when I was glaring at them.

"Stay out of my way. I'm winning this thing."

I got up to leave just as he responded. "Please. By all means."

_Odd response. Did I really scare him that bad?_

I had no time to think about it though as I stalked the Nightmare from behind cover. I took cover one last time as I made my plan.

"This time. This time, for sure." I took in a breathe and jumped over the cover, energy axe in hand. Only to find the Nightmare, unconscious, three inches away from Hiccup's feet.

I couldn't believe it. A Nightmare, with a Gravity Hammer, and wielded it with great skill. And Hiccup beat it in close combat, WITHOUT ANY WEAPONS! Needless to say I was shocked, confused, and livid at the same time. I started flailing my axe around chopping invisible enemies.

"NO! NO, STINKING LITTLE, NO GOOD, RAT EATING, MUNGE-BUCKET!"

Hiccup then had the nerve to just leave.

"Okay. Are we done? Because I'm late for-"

"WHAT!" I said holding my axe to his neck. "LATE FOR WHAT, EXACTLY?" I could see the terrified look in his eyes straight through his helmet.

"Wait." Called Stoick. "Gothi, Who won?"

The holographic image of the base AI came up. She looked at both of us and then said. "It was close, but with a slim victory of one point. Hiccup."

I was even angrier, which was impossible. Those last few points for the Nightmare should have been mine. I took off my helmet and glare furiously at Hiccup. He noticed and looked terrified, then his fans scooped him up.

"You did it Hiccup!" Called Gobber. "You get the big surprise tomorrow."

"And that would be?" He asked. I had to admit I was curious as well.

"As a reward for winning the Dragon Training tournament." Said Gothi. "You will be promoted to lieutenant, and tomorrow. You will get to show what you and your AI can do, when you go up against an entire squad of Elites.

Elites. That was the last challenge. Even thought it seemed that Brutes were replacing the Elites in battle, more and more. I at least held some respect for them. They were the enemy, but I had to admit. They were great warriors.

Everyone seemed excited to see Hiccup go up against Elites.

Hiccup however didn't look glad at all.

"Oh, yeah. Hooray. I'm so..."

* * *

~The Cove : Hiccup-200~

* * *

"...leaving. We're leaving." I couldn't take much more of this. I didn't even know why. My father was proud of me, my fellow soldiers loved me, except Astrid. She looked like she was out for blood.

And there were the Elites. I couldn't kill Elites. They were Nogard's genetic cousins. Sort of, I think? Besides I owe my winning to Nogard's tricks that he had taught me. If it weren't for the Njorman plant that Nightmare would have slammed me back to Earth. Plus, we had never gone over any tricks for beating Elites. Especially not an entire squad of them.

I looked around but Nogard was nowhere in sight, neither was the ship. Maybe he's testing the ships invisibility? I leaned over and took off my helmet to check that I had everything. When I looked back up I heard a loud sigh from my left. I looked and there was Astrid, with her helmet off, sitting on a rock holding the energy axe I had made for her. I immediately jumped back in fear.

"Ah! Uh. Astrid. What are you doing here?" _Oh great, she'll find Nogard and kill him. Then me._

"I want to know what's going on." She said flatly before turning the axe on, and getting up. She then hopped off the rock and got closer to me. She kept getting closer, making me back away. I was watching the axe to make sure the plasma blade didn't hit me. She kept tossing it with a spin from one hand to the other. "Nobody just gets as good as you do. _Especially_ you."

"Start talking." She continued. "Are you training with someone?"

"We'll, uh."

"It better not involve THIS!" She said as she picked up the Nightfury Laser and shoved it into me. I held onto it looking for an excuse.

"This? Well, um."

I heard a twig break. She did too. She grabbed me and instantly threw me out of the way. She stepped over me and looked around. I couldn't let her find Nogard.

I got up quickly and stood in front of her. "Alright. You got me. I've been making, weapons." I grabbed her hand and pulled it to my chest. "So go ahead. Drag me back. Ow!" She twisted my hand, and I think I heard something crack. I collapsed to my knees in pain. "Why would you do that?"

"That's for the lies." She said kicking me to the ground. "And THAT'S!" She said emphasizing "that" by dropping the axe handle on my head. "For everything else."

We both heard a growl and she gasped and tensed up, looking around but finding no one.

"Oh no." I groaned out of fear.

Astrid stepped back a few steps but bumped into something. I could see her hold her breath and her eyes widen as she turned and backed away from the figure to find it was invisible. But I knew who it was.

Nogard decloaked. He was holding both energy swords, and let out another growl.

"Hiccup." I heard Astrid whisper to me. "Run."

I knew what she was going to do. I jumped back up as she raised her axe. "No!" I grabbed it and used my weight to throw her to the ground. I took the axe and threw it away into the bushes. I stood before her as Nogard quickly approached. I held my hands up to him in defense.

"Hey hey. It's alright." He stopped and looked at me curiously. "She's a friend." He seemed to trust me enough that he turned off and reholstered the swords.

I then turned to Astrid. Who for the first time that I could remember. Looked scared. "You scared him."

"I scared _him_!? Who is _him_?" She said as she got back on her feet.

"Uh, Astrid. Meet Nogard. Nogard. Astrid." He just let out a low menacing growl. "Not helping." I whispered to him. I turned to see Astrid look between the two of us. She then took a step back, turned around and started running away.

"Dut duh dah, we're dead."

Nogard just turned around and walked away. I turned towards him.

"Where do you think you're going?"

"To get the ship ready. We need to leave before she tells them about us."

"Hold that thought for a second. I have an idea."

* * *

~Astrid-201~

* * *

I ran through the trees as fast as I could. I couldn't believe it. That traitor. He was friends with the enemy. So that was how he beat me. He was probably telling them all our armies secrets.

I burst through the trees into the opening of a field. I jumped off a rock. But instead of falling, I felt gravity's prescence go away and I kept rising higher. I looked up and saw a ship flying over me. I was caught in its tractor beam. I didn't even know they could be used like this. Probably Hiccup's idea. I was stuck in the air, held by a hostile ship. I did the first thing anyone would do. Scream.

"Aaarrrgghhh! Oh man oh man oh man. This can't be happening to me. Aaarrrgghhh!"

We were headed back into the forest. As we skimmed the trees I saw the cove up ahead. But instead of the cove we flew up higher. Straight over the tallest tree in the area. The tractor beam deactivated. I dropped a few feet, and grabbed onto a branch. Whoever was flying that thing obviously thought it would be funny to bend the tree with the wing so that I was dangling over the cove. The top cockpit opened up and Hiccup's head appeared out of it.

"HICCUP! Get me down from here!" I demanded.

He looked at me pleadingly. "You have to give me a chance to explain."

"I am not listening to ANYTHING you have to say!"

"Then I won't speak. Just let me show you." He said holding his hand out. "Please Astrid."

I looked back down. It's not like I had much of a choice. I pulled myself up onto the branch. I jumped onto the ships wing. Hiccup still had his hand out to me. I just knocked it away as I got into the cockpit. I ended up sitting behind him. It was a rather roomy cockpit since it fit both of us with room to spare.

"Now get me down from here." I said as I crossed my arms. I couldn't help the nervousness in my voice. I had never actually flown in something like this. I had flown a Falcon before, but that was completely different.

"Alright Nogard. Down. Gently."

* * *

~Nogard's cockpit: Toothless~

* * *

I appeared in the holo projector just as Hiccup's voice came through. I could tell Nogard didn't fully agree with Hiccup's approach. I turned off the comm system.

"You don't think we should let her go do you?" I said.

"I think she will still tell them about us." He replied.

"Well then. Since this might be the last time. How about we have some fun?"

While it's hard to smile with mandibles. I could tell from the look in his eye that he was. I smiled along, baring my teeth.

* * *

~Astrid-201~

* * *

I heard the engines warm up, as the cockpit closed.

"There, see. Nothing to worry about." He sounded so sure.

The next thing I know we're not flying gently downward, but rocketing upward at breakneck speed. I, once again, started screaming at the top of my lungs, and grabbed onto Hiccup as tight as I could. Hiccup seemed just as surprised as me. Only while I screamed he complained to the pilot.

"Nogard! What are you doing!? Toothless! Stop this thing."

We evened out and slowed down a bit. I thought I was going insane when I stopped yelling and heard laughter. I then realized it was Stormfly who was laughing.

"Sorry. They're not usually like this." We started leaning down and to the right. "Oh no." He said just before I screamed again as we nosedived straight for the water. We dove straight into the water and came back out.

"Guys what are you doing. We need her to like us."

We went up again and started spinning.

"And now with the spinning."

We evened out one last time. Then the engines turned off.

"Thank you for nothing. You useless reptile." Hiccup said as we free fell in the air. We were spinning and flipping so much I couldn't take it anymore.

"Okay, alright. I'm sorry! I'm sorry."

The engines turned back on and we evened out again. I finally opened my eyes slowly. My grip on Hiccup slackened as I took in the sight on the screen before me. Hiccup opened the cockpit. The wind rushed in and blew in my face. It felt surprisingly relaxing.

It was sunset. We were flying straight towards it. The orange rays emitting from the sun and turned shades of purple and pink as they stretched over our heads. Nogard, I think that was his name, flew us up into the clouds.

All the oranges, pinks, and purples were stunning. I held my hand up into the cloud overhead. I had never experienced anything like this before. I felt so...free. I couldn't resist. I closed my eyes and reached up into the sky.

We flew through the clouds and into the night. Nogard took us above the clouds. The moon was full, but we didn't get to see much of it as it was replaced by something much more beautiful. The Berkian lights. I had learned that something similar happened in the arctic circle back on Earth.

We flew over a gap in the clouds. We looked down to see the base far below filled with light. I opened my mouth in awe. I regained my senses and placed my arms around Hiccup's waist. I then held him close as I leaned my head on his shoulder.

_You know. Hiccup's not too bad. _

We flew closer towards the base. Once we had enough of the view we turned and just flew around.

"Alright. I got to admit. This is pretty cool." I said as I looked around. "It's amazing. You're all amazing."

I could see Hiccup blush when he realized I included him in the complement. An eerie silence fell between us. There was just one more thing I needed to know.

"So what now?"

"I don't know." He replied.

"Hiccup. You're final exam is tomorrow. You going to have to kill-" I cut myself short remembering our present company. I turned off our comms and whispered in his ear. "Kill the Elites."

"Don't remind me." He said gloomily.

Before anything else could be said, Nogard made us sharply turn. Hiccup turned his comm back on, so did I.

"Guys. What's going on?" He asked.

"We've intercepted a Covenant transmission calling everyone back to base." Came Nogard's deep Elite voice over the comm. "Whatever is happening. It's big."

I looked ahead and saw we were going straight into Helheim's Gate. We flew into the mist and for a while I couldn't see anything. Then I heard the sound of a Banshee's engine from behind us. And on both sides of us. I looked around and a Banshee came out of the mist, flying close to us.

"Get down." Hiccup whispered to me. I doubted he needed to whisper, but I didn't bother to comment. We got back down into the cockpit and closed the hatch. Hiccup then pressed some buttons. My guess was he activated the ship's active camouflage.

Nogard seemed to know the way through the mist filled forest airspace that not even our best pilots could manage. It didn't surprise me. The Covenant would have to know a safe root back home when they went out.

I looked and saw something appearing out of the mist. I had been expecting a Covenant base, but instead was a large dormant volcano. We flew straight towards it. We seemed to be going towards a hole in the side of the volcano that the other Banshees were flying into. There was a cliff just below it. Nogard slowed down and we landed on it. The cockpits opened and we got out into the foul sulfuric air.

"Nogard? Why are we here?" Asked Hiccup.

"I had heard rumors that the Covenant were working on something big. And I highly doubt it would bode well for your fellow humans." He replied.

We climbed up the mountain side and into the hole. We walked for some time before reaching the end. It emptied out into a large hangar filled with Banshee's.

"Active camouflage time." Said Hiccup.

We turned invisible and walked into the hangar. I followed Hiccup since he was no doubt following Nogard. Who was the only one not showing up on my radar. I could hear some faint noises from Stormfly as she scanned the room. If the UNSC ever did reach this place, these scans could prove useful.

Nogard led us along many paths before taking us down what seemed like an engineering route. We reached an opening into a large cavern. I looked down and saw about fifty Elites all lined up in formation. I looked around but there was no one else. Then a voice boomed in the darkness of the cavern.

"Our followers!" It was a prophet. I could tell by the voice. "For years we have been working on a secret project. One that will win the war for certain. But allow me to introduce _The Elites_." There seemed to be a large amount of booing coming from somewhere behind the walls. "These traitors are no longer worthy to serve us or our purpose. So what shall we do with them?"

"**Kill them!**" Was what I heard in reply.

"Allow me to introduce, our salvation and the humans reckoning, the Green Death!"

I looked into the back of the cave. Unlike the rest it wasn't lighted at all, but was pitch black instead. Until now, that is. A huge bright green light orb started shining in the darkness. I recognized the light immediately. The plasma beam of a Scarab. It fired and annihilated the Elites. I saw Nogard grip the wall in anger as he watched his fellow kind get slaughtered like pigs. I felt sorry for him.

There was something bugging me though. We'd gone up against Scarabs before. Why was this one different? My question was answered as I saw the floor of the cave split open. More light appeared to reveal a large Green Super Scarab. It was three times as big as any Scarab I had ever seen. We all gasped and swallowed in shock and terror as the behemoth before us rose from its resting place. I saw now that the Scarab Plasma Laser only replaced the anti air cannon on the rear of the Scarab. The main gun was twice as large as the one at the rear.

We thought we had gone unnoticed, our active camo still on, however it seemed that the Covenant had thought of that.

"Well, it looks like we have intruders."

The Green Death's rear canon aimed straight for us and started charging.

"Uh Hiccup. Let's get out of here." I said concerned.

"Yeah. Alright let's move." We turned and started running back through the tunnels as the beam fired. We got out just in time to barely miss the beam. We quickly and stealthily got back to the ship. We got in and Nogard flew us home.


	12. Ch 12: Final Exam

**_Hello once again. First order of business, if you guys are still enjoying the story, good I'm accomplishing my mission. Also, if you guys want to read more from HTTYD/Halo crossover universe go check out New Blood of a Lost Age by Hi Mr Whale. It's a good story so go check it out. _**

**_Second order of business. I just realized I never gave you guys a description of the Nightfury Banshee. So here it is._**

**_Start with a basic Banshee, then fuse the cockpit from a Hornet to the front and add two Gatling guns underneath. Put two Nightfury Fusion rod canon under the wings, next to the body of the ship. Paint the entire thing black, and there you go._**

**_Now, on with the story!_**

* * *

**Chapter 12: Final Exam**

* * *

~Astrid-201~

We landed back in the cove. As soon as the cockpit opened I jumped out.

"That thing will destroy us from 50 miles away. Let's go tell your dad."

"No. Astrid wait!" He said as he jumped out after me. "We can't tell them. They-they'll kill Nogard. No. We have to think this through." He walked away pondering our current predicament.

"Hiccup. We just found the Covenant's base. Not only that but their _superweapon_. And you want to keep it a secret? To protect an Elite, are you serious?"

I had not realized how wrong that last sentence sounded until it was out. But Hiccup just turned to me. Staring at me with the most commanding like face I had ever seen on him.

"Yes." I was taken aback. Hiccup suddenly looked like a true leader. I was instantly sorry for what I said. His face faltered though when he saw my expression. He turned away to his right and looked away from me.

"Okay. So what do we do?"

"Just, give me until tomorrow. I'll think of something."

"Okay." I couldn't resist. I hit him in the arm. "That's for kidnapping me." He looked at me confused before looking over his shoulder and shrugging to Nogard. Nogard was just standing by the ship and shook his head to show he didn't understand.

I then pushed the bangs out of my eyes, and made a decision. I grabbed him by his chest plate and pulled him in to kiss his cheek. "That's for everything else." I turned and ran back to the base.

* * *

~Hiccup-200~

I couldn't believe it. Astrid just kissed me. Well, it was on my cheek, but a kiss none the less. I just stared after her. I barely noticed Toothless project himself onto my shoulder; or Nogard walk up and look over my shoulder. They both looked at me. That was when I snapped out of the trance.

"What are you looking at?"

They both just looked back in the direction Astrid and ran in.

* * *

~STC-Dragon Training arena.~

I walked into the waiting room. I sat there waiting for the Exam to start. I was scared to death and nervous beyond belief. I heard Astrid walk up behind me.

"Be careful with those Elites." She said with concern in her voice.

"It's not the Elites I'm worried about." I said as I nervously looked up. Above me was the observation room my dad was watching in.

"What are you going to do?"

"I'm going to end this. I've got to try." I turned to face her. She was just as concerned as I was. "Astrid. If anything, goes wrong. Just make sure they don't find Nogard."

"I will. Just, promise me it won't go wrong."

Before I could answer, the gate opened and Gobber walked in.

"Alright Hiccup. Knock em dead." He gestured me into the arena. I put on my helmet as I walked in. I had my comm switched to me and Nogard's private channel. I had told Astrid about it, but I didn't know if she was listening or not. Gobber raised the see through force field behind me and left to join my dad. Leaving Astrid alone in the arena waiting room.

"Alright Nogard. Is the radio ready?"

"Yes Hiccup. But it might take me a while to find the channel they're using."

I turned on my other channel so that they crossed over. I could hear large amounts of shouts from the other soldiers. I walked into the middle of the ring with my assault rifle.

"Okay. I'm ready."

The center gate slowly opened, but nothing came out. Or that's what it seemed. I turned on the special cloak visor that had been installed on my prototype helmet. There were six of them. They were spreading out to surround me. I could hear faint sounds of them talking to each other in their own language. I dropped my assault rifle and held my hands up.

"Nogard, do you have them yet?"

"What's he doing?" I heard my father on the human radio.

"No, not- wait. I think I've got it."

I looked and the Elites stopped and seemed surprised. The next thing I know they're decloaking.

I call out to them. "It's okay." I look up at the observation room. Then back to the Elites. "I'm not one of them." I could hear gasps and question from all around. I snuck a look at Astrid and she looked worried.

"Stop the fight." My father's voice came out.

"No! I need you to see this. They're not our enemy anymore. We don't have to kill them." The Elites leader walked up to me, but before anything else happened my father's voice shouted out.

"I said STOP THE FIGHT!" He sentence was punctuated my a large explosion from the eastern wall. Everyone looked towards it as screams and yells came over the radio. A large cloud of smoke rose in the air.

_"Incoming!"_

_"Retreat!"_

I froze. What was that? Whatever it was, it was not part of my plan.

"What's going on?" My father demanded.

"Sir, we've got a Hunter."

"Just a Hunter?"

"Yeah, and a big one at that."

I could hear commotion as people started moving towards the battle. I ran to the arena entrance but the shield was still up. Astrid ran to the controls and lowered it. We ran out as she put on her helmet. Nogard told the Elites to stay there. It would be safer for them, I hoped.

When we got to the sight of the battle, a terrifying sight met our eyes. It was a Hunter, a _genetically altered one_. It was three times as large as a normal hunter, same for the guns. The thing even had shoulder mounted cannons.

It looked straight at us, and I got the scary feeling it knew me. Mainly because it started charging straight for me. So, I did the one thing I was good at in times like this. Run.

This, "_Super Hunter_," chased me through the base. It destroyed everything between me and it. We ran past the arena.

"Hiccup!" I heard Astrid shout. She sounded scared.

I turned to look at the monster chasing me. Apparently the Super Scarab wasn't the only surprise the Covenant had. I noticed a small red dot on its head. Next thing I know a Spartan laser's beam is shot at the things head. It staggered back and I took a quick look to see Astrid on top of a building with a Spartan Laser. I looked back at the Super Hunter to see that the Laser only took out its shields. I decided to keep running as it was obviously not going to let the laser slow it down.

I eventually found myself trapped in the arena. When I jumped in the Elites were still in their. I told them to get out of there. They turned invisible and left, just as the monster arrived.

I saw the Super Hunter's arm cannon charge up. I closed my eyes, but then I heard something. The high pitched shriek of Nogard's Nightfury Laser. I looked to see the bright blue beam shoot over my head and blow off the Super Hunters cannon arm. The next thing I saw was Nogard jumping down in front of me with both swords drawn, and roared right at the Super Hunter. By this time most of the base had gathered around.

"Nightfury!" I heard Gobber say in unbelief.

Nogard then charged foward and ran between the Super Hunter's legs, slicing both of them as he went. He must have hit the weak spots, because the Super Hunter fell to its knees, steadying itself with its one arm. I looked up and see Nogard on top of it. He stabbed both swords into its exposed neck and sliced its head off. The body fell and Nogard jumped off of it. He walked up to me.

"Hiccup, are you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm fine, but you need to get out of here. Now."

But it was already too late. The arena was surrounded by Spartans who all started jumping into the arena. My dad being the first of them. He fired his DMR at Nogard. However, Nogard's shields were strong enough that they held even after having an entire clip emptied into them. Nogard's temper seemed to have burnt out. He charged at my dad and disarmed him. He raised his energy sword, readying to strike.

"NO!" I yelled at him.

He stopped, and looked back at me worried. It didn't last long as he was tackled by three other Spartans. He struggled against them. I ran to help him, but someone grabbed my arm and handcuffed it with my other behind my back.

"Hold it right there, traitor." Said a voice with extreme distaste and dislike. I recognized it immediately. It was Astrid.

_Why was she doing doing this? I thought we were friends. Or was that an act so I would let her go. But she kissed me. Or was that just to sell the act? _

She was pushing me roughly, probably towards the stockade.

"Put him with the others." I heard my dad tell the guys holding Nogard. He turned to see Astrid leading me away. "Where are you taking him?"

"To the stockade sir. Where he belongs." There was that distaste again.

"Wait. Take him to my office first. I want to have a talk with him."

"Yes sir."

She led me away.

* * *

~General's Office~

We reached my dad's office. She led me to the door and uncuffed me. It's not like I could get away, even if I wanted to. She led me through the door. I took several steps in before I felt her kick me to the ground. I looked back to see her close the door behind her.

I waited for several minutes before my dad burst through the door.

"How did I not see this? Why didn't I see the signs?"

"Dad, wait."

"We had a deal!"

"Yeah...but that was before...oh, this is such a mess."

"So everything in the ring. A trick. A lie."

"I know, I messed up. But dad whatever you do. Take it out on me, just don't hurt Nogard."

"The Nightfury? That's who your worried about, not the people he almost killed out there."

"He was only protecting me."

"They've killed HUNDREDS of us!"

"And we've killed **thousands** of them. Look he and the Elites, they're not dangerous. They-they've been betrayed dad. There's...something, in their base-"

"Their base? So he's shown you the way through Helheim's Gate." Oh man. This is not good. I just messed this up even further. And that evil look in his eye wasn't helping. "How did you find it."

"I-I-I didn't. Nogard did. He was flying us there to show us-". I stopped at the look on his face. He had an idea. An I was 99% positive it wasn't a good one.

"No. No dad no. It's not what you think. You don't know what you're up against. It's a weapon like you've never seen." He just walks past me towards the door. I was the most desperate I had ever been at this point. "No...dad. FOR ONCE IN YOU'RE LIFE WOULD YOU PLEASE JUST LISTEN TO ME!"

I run up to him but he just turns and punches me in my unprotected face. My helmet was sitting on the table. I fell back and clutched my broken nose. I look up at his furious face.

"You've thrown your lot in with them. You're not a Spartan. You're not my son." He turned and left. Slamming the door behind him. "READY THE TROOPS!"

I just lay there shocked and decimated by what had just happened. Some men came in and dragged me into my cell. I just sat there. I was given a cell with a window that faced the base entrance. I watched as they all left.

* * *

I sat there for another few minutes in complete silence. Toothless was still inside my helmet, laying on the floor. They had taken away his ability to access the base's computers, so that he wouldn't help me escape.

_What had I done. I just sent everyone I know and care about to their doom._

I was distracted from my thoughts as I heard footsteps heading for my cell, which was the only occupied one. I wasn't sure why we had stockades in the first place. No one ever did anything that got them locked up, until now that is.

I looked up and saw that it was Astrid. Like me, she wasn't wearing her helmet. I was expecting a look of anger but was surprised to find a look of concern and sadness. She leaned her right shoulder on the doorframe and crossed her arms. Looking through the force field and straight at me. She then turned her gaze to down the hall.

"It's a mess." She said, sounding worried. "You must feel horrible. You've lost everything: you're army, your father, your best friend."

"Thank you for summing that up." I said in my usual sarcastic tone. I looked down at the helmet lying across the floor in front of me. "Why couldn't I have just killed him when I found him in the forest. It would have been better, for everyone."

"You're right. The rest of us would have done it. So why didn't you?" She turned to look at me again. Her eyes almost pleading for an answer. "Why didn't you?"

I continued to stare at my helmet before getting up and looking away from it to my left. "I don't know. I couldn't."

"That's not an answer."

"WHY is this so important to you all of a sudden." I said turning back to face her.

"Because I want to remember what you say, right now." She had a demanding look on her face. Which meant she was being honest.

"Fine. I was a coward, I was weak, I wouldn't kill him."

"You said _wouldn't_ that time." She interjected.

"Whatever! I wouldn't. Since the beginning of this war, and I'm the first person to not kill an Elite." I said looking away from her in shame.

"First to befriend one though. Sooo..." This really surprised me. She didn't sound disappointed. She sounded slightly enthusiastic.

I slowly got up and turned to face her.

"I wouldn't kill him, because he looked just as scared as I was. I looked at him, and I saw myself." She started smiling a little bit, before it disappeared again. I still had a question that needed answering though.

"So why are you here? I thought you were my friend, and you call me a traitor and lock me up in a cell. You didn't even try to defend me. Why?"

A smile stretches across her face. "Well, it would be pretty hard to break you out of jail if I was stuck in there with you." She pushes a button on the control panel beside her and the shield vanishes. "_Plus_, then Stormfly wouldn't have been able to hack the base's computers either." She held up her arm and Stormfly projected from it. I was surprised to see that Stormfly's form wasn't a human's, it was a dragon's.

Stormfly was a different kind of dragon than Toothless was. She walked on two hind legs with razor sharp talons on her feet. Her wings were a bit smaller but were wider than Toothless'. She had long spikes coming out of the back of her head, and her tail was long, whip-like, and lacked the fins Toothless' had. She seemed to be colored blue with yellow stripes and markings. Unlike Toothless who I had designed to be black, although that doesn't really show with a hologram.

"You gave me the idea when I saw you designing Toothless." She explained.

I smiled back at her, and went to grab my helmet. I held it under my arm and was surprised to see Toothless appear out of my projector and onto my shoulder.

_"I have given Toothless his original abilities back."_ Said Stormfly.

We walked down the hallway towards the exit.

"Nogard is being held in the arena with the other Elites. There are some guards surrounding the place. So what are you going to do about it?"

"Eh, probably somethin stupid."

"Good. But you've already done that."

"Then something crazy." I started jogging out the exit and towards the arena. I just barely heard Astrid say something behind me. Something that really made me happy.

"Now that's, more like it."

* * *

_**Not going to lie, this is one of my personal favorite chapters in the story. Mainly the part with Hiccup and Astrid talking in the jail cell. Course, it was one of my favorite scenes in the movie as well, so of course I'd like it. What did you guys think?**_


	13. Ch 13: Reinforcements

~Helheim's Gate~

Stoick's army made its way though the jungle and mist. Stoick had sent some men out to sector six to see if they could find anything of use. They had found the cove the Nightfury was living in. There they found it's ship and brought it back. Thanks to the human technology Hiccup installed, they quickly got the data of their flight path into the enemy base. Stoick and his army cautiously made their way through. They knew the path was safe, but there could have still been some surprises on the ground, unlike for Hiccup who had been in the air.

* * *

~UNSC installation 117: Hiccup-200~

I made my way through the base, surprisingly enough there were no guards around. I walked into the Dragon Training arena.

"Toothless. Which cell is Nogard in?"

_"Second one to the right."_

"Open it up."

Toothless hacked into the system and opened the cell door. The door opened and Nogard slowly walked out.

"Hiccup! It is good to see you again, and that you're alright. How did you escape?" He asked.

"Astrid pretended to be with them so that she could bust me out."

"Clever."

"Yeah. Come on. We have to help my dad. They've gone to face the Covenant."

"But don't they know about the Scarab?"

"They wouldn't listen." I explained.

"Hiccup. I'm sorry to say this, but we can't face that thing and the rest of the Covenant army by ourselves." A frown appeared on my face at this. But he was right, we didn't have a chance by ourselves.

"Well then it's a good thing you won't be by yourselves then." Came Astrid's voice from behind me. "Weren't you wondering why there were no guards preventing your progress?"

I looked behind me and saw Astrid, Snotlout, The Twins, and Fishlegs standing all in a row. Everyone but Astrid rushed up to me. Tuffnut was first.

"You were wise to seek help from the 'world's most deadly weapon'."

_And that was?_

"It's me." He put in quickly before Snotlout pushed him out of the way.

"I LOVE this plan." He was then pushed out of the way by Ruffnut.

"You're crazy." She then got real close and whispered. "I like that." Astrid apparently overheard and pulled her away by her hair. She stood before me with eyes full of hope and admiration.

"So, what is the plan?"

However, it was Nogard who spoke first.

"We're grateful for your help, but it is still not enough to take on the Covenant."

"Well then, I guess it's a good thing I called some new friends of mine." Astrid said. The next thing I see is an army of Elites turning visible around the arena. "I went to the cove before your Dad's men got there and grabbed the radio. I found the channel the Elite refugee's were using and told them the situation."

"We have been both betrayed and deceived." Said who appeared to be the leader of the Elites. "We would be glad to aid the Nightfury and his friends in the Covenant's destruction."

"Then lets gear up." I ordered.

* * *

~Helheim's Gate~

Stoick and his men made it through the mist and beheld the sight of the volcano in front of them. All the men but Stoick were nervous, with good reason. They were about to take on the Covenant army. All the vehicles and men stopped just past the edge of the mist. Stoick hopped out of the Elephant.

"We're here."

* * *

~UNSC instillation 117: Hiccup-200~

We first went to the armory and grabbed as many weapons as we could carry, we then pooled our weapons together and spread them out. Energy Swords, Spartan Lasers, Rocket Launchers, Fusion Rods, Battle Rifles, Carbines, Needlers, SMGs, Sniper Rifles, _everything_. I took a Battle Rifle, and a Sniper. Nogard took the Nightfury Laser, his Energy Swords and a Carbine. Astrid took her usual gear, Spartan Laser, dual SMGs, and her Energy Axe (which impressed the Elites quite a bit).

We then went to the vehicle depot and piled into everything that was left. The Elites had brought five Phantoms, ten Banshees, eight ghosts, and a Wraith. We filled them up and piled everyone else into what we could find. Five Scorpions piled with troops, fifteen Warthogs, ten Gauss Warthogs, ten Hornets, five Falcons, and an experimental Vulture. Nogard and I found our ship and checked to make sure it was still flyworthy. Nogard got into his cockpit and I got into mine. I was about to close the cockpit when Astrid jumped in behind me.

"What? Astrid what are you doing?" I asked almost hysterically.

"Coming with you." She said flatly.

"But...but."

"You're supposed to be doing something crazy. I'm just making sure you don't do something stupid." I didn't know why but I felt that that wasn't the real reason. But I gave in anyway.

"Alright." I turned on the comm systems linking us all together. "Let's go guys."

* * *

~Helheim's Gate~

Stoick's men had set up a perimeter around one side of the volcano. Their scanners had indicated that the wall was hollow and a few blasts from the Scorpions would be enough to break it open.

"When we crack this mountain open. Absolute chaos is gonna break loose."

"In my undies," added Gobber, "good thing I brought extras."

He was joking of course, but a few of the other colonels couldn't help but roll their eyes at his bad joke.

"No matter what happens. This ends today." Said Stoick. He then gave the order to fire.

The tanks fired a volley into the mountain side. It cracked open instantly, leaving a big hole in the side of the volcano. Stoick got into the entrance and looked in. He tossed in a flare, but nothing. Which was weird, since they seemed to have found the barracks. The entire place looked abandoned.

One over enthusiastic soldier let the empty room get the better of him. "We've done it!" A few more soldiers joined in, when a loud mechanical sound issued from the room.

"This isn't over. Form your ranks, and get ready!"

Stoick faltered however when the floor to the room started collapsing and blowing up at the same time. Rock both sank down and shot up. Stoick only needed a glimpse though of a bright green light to tell him this was bad.

"Get clear!" Yelled Stoick as he ran out of the entrance and into the now retreating army.

Out of the falling rock Stoick could make out the shape of the largest Scarab he had ever seen.

"Holy Cow! What is that thing?" Said a shocked Gobber standing next to him.

"My goodness."

The Super Scarab was now walking out of the cave and towards the army. It seemed to be hunting them down.

"Tanks! Fire!" Stoick ordered.

The tanks fired, but did no good against the Scarab's heavy armor plating. The Super Scarab started charging up its main laser.

"Back to the vehicles!" Shouted one Spartan.

"No! No!" Yelled Stoick trying to get them to stop.

But for some it was too late. The Scarab's main laser cannon fired taking out half of the ground vehicles. Then the top turret took out several aircraft.

"Smart that thing." Commented Gobber as they walked away from the wreckage.

"I was a fool." Stoick told himself. Hiccup had been right. Why had he not listened to him? "Get the men to the other side of the volcano."

"Yes sir." Said one of the colonels.

"Gobber go with the men."

"Nah, I think I'll stay with you. Just in case you decide to do something crazy."

"I can buy the men some time if I give that thing something to hunt." He made to walk away, but Gobber grabbed his arm and pulled him into a brotherly handshake.

"Then I can double that time."

Smiling, both men get into separate Scorpions and take off in different directions, firing at the Super Scarab.

"Here!"

"Oh no. Here!"

"Come on!"

"Here! Fight me!"

"No! Fight me!"

The Scarab was charging its main gun pointed at Stoick and its turret at Gobber. It was about to fire, when several large explosions hit it. Stoick looked up to see a mixture of both Covenant and Human vehicle emerging from the fog. All of them firing on the Super Scarab.

* * *

~Hiccup-200~

We had arrived just in time to save my dad and Gobber from the Green Death's blasts. It now seemed to be distracted by us.

"Alright guys. Split up! It will take it longer to take us out if we're spread out."

All the ships split up and surrounded the Super Scarab. Firing at it at all times.

"Alright, Fishlegs! Break it down and find me a weak spot."

"Okay," came Fishlegs voice over the comm, "heavy cannons and large size, meant for long range attacks. Heavy armor, nearly impenetrable. It more than likely relies on sensors for targeting. Weak spots look like the base of the turret and its knees."

"Okay. Snotlout, Fishlegs, lead some squads against that thing and aim for the legs. Ruff, Tuff, take several fighters and distract that thing. Make it mad."

"That's my specialty." Said Ruff proudly.

"Since when? Everyone knows that I'm more annoying." Retorted Tuff who then started making some weird noises from his mouth.

_"Oh please, me and Ruff are way more annoying." _Said Barf.

_"Oh yeah? Try us!" _Challenged Belch.

"Just do what I told you. We'll be back soon to help."

"Don't worry we got it." Said Snotlout.

While the others performed their jobs, we flew around towards the back of the Scarab.

"So what are _we_ trying to do?" Asked Astrid.

"Well, if it's like most Scarabs, there'll be a primary power core. All we have to do is board and destroy it."

We flew around back but found that boarding would prove a bit more difficult. The thing not only had the Scarab turret on the back, but tens of smaller turrets all around the sides of it.

Unfortunately, Snotlout and Fishlegs didn't notice this until too late.

"Ah! I'm going down!" Yelled Snotlout.

"I'm losing control on the Falcon!" I was afraid that they didn't make it until I heard Fishlegs voice. "I'm okay. Oof. Less okay."

We pull away from the Scarab to avoid the turret fire. After we're out of range we tried again, with the ship cloaked. We manage to sneak up and hover over the ships platform. My cockpit opens and Astrid jumps out. I try to get out as well, but she stops me.

"No, Hiccup. Stay in there." She tells me.

"What!? No! I'm coming with you."

"No, you two have to stay in the ship. You do your best in there. I'll be fine." She then ran off. I knew she had a point so I got back in.

"Alright guys. Let's see how we can help her from out here."

We took off and tried to take out some more of those turrets.

* * *

~Astrid-201~

I crept along one of the Scarab's hallways. No one had seen Hiccup and Nogard drop me off. I then made my way into a literal maze of passageways inside of the Scarab. I rounded another corner and found myself outside again. Only this time near the head of the Scarab. I looked around and saw our men weren't doing to well against all the turrets. So I decided to help them out.

I ran over to one of the turrets and opened the hatch. I pulled out my knife and stabbed a Nadder right in the neck. I pulled the body out and climbed in.

"Guys, just so you know. I'm in the third turret from the front of the Scarab on it's left side." No point risking friendly fire.

"Affirmative."

I turned the turret around and blasted the turret to my right, then my left. That was when they started to get suspicious. I blasted the second and final turret on my right and turned to my left. The other turrets that could get a shot started firing.

I turned invisible and exited the turret. Stormfly had hot wired it to keep firing at them. I walked over to the foremost turret and strapped some T4 onto it. I took out the detonator and walked back a few paces. I threw some plasma grenades at the two turrets next to it. I hit the detonator just as the plasmas went off. All three turrets blew up in a fiery inferno. I had the rest of the turrets attention and wasn't invisible anymore. I looked behind me and spotted an entrance back into the Scarab. I ran in with turret fire coming after me. I closed the door just in time as my shields ran out.

When my shields had recharged, I went back to wandering about the Scarab. This time I met some opposition. I ran into a Nightmare escorting three Gronkles. I drew my SMGs and took down the Gronkles. I needed to reload, so I turned a corner and ran down the hallway. I reloaded as I ran, with the Nightmare following me. Some Brute Shot rounds flew by my head and I rounded another corner. I put my SMGs away and took out my axe. Just as the Nightmare came around the corner I stuck out my axe and sliced his leg off. Unbalanced, he fell over. I then drove my axe straight into his head.

_"Astrid."_

"Yeah Stormfly."

_"I've been mapping these hallways as we've traveled through them. Taking in the size and shape of this thing, I believe I should have a fairly accurate map of this thing."_

"Good. But we still don't know where the power core is."

"Incoming fire!" yelled one of the Elites from outside.

"Astrid." It was Nogard, "that scarab laser turret on top in shredding us. Is there anything you can do?"

"I haven't found the energy core yet, but I'll see what I can do."

_Looks like we're going outside again._

Using Stormfly's map, I found my way back out of the Scarab's inner hallways. We were back out at the front of the thing. I looked behind me to see the Scarab laser turret aiming at the ships. The thing was huge! I didn't have enough explosives to take that out.

But Hiccup and Nogard did.

"Hiccup, Nogard, do you read me."

"We read you Astrid." Hiccup responded.

"I don't have the firepower to take that thing out, but if I can get it to aim down at me, you guys can come in from behind and blast its exposed base joint."

"Okay." He said nervously. He was unsure about my plan. To be honest I was too. "Are you sure you can get it to aim for you?"

"Let's just hope that there's either a Grunt or a Gronkle manning that thing."

"Alright we're in position."

I took out my Spartan Laser and targeted the Scarab Laser turret. I fired, but as I suspected, it didn't do much. Who ever was operating that thing though was defiantly either a Grunt or a Gronkle. Because the next thing it does is turn towards me and start charging the laser.

Only a second passes before I hear the disorienting whistling sound of Nightfury fusion rod cannons. I glimpse Hiccup and Nogard fly behind the turret, just before a bright blue explosion erupts from the turret's base. The turret was disconnected and started to fall off. Right onto me.

* * *

~Hiccup-200~

I turned to look at our handywork. Astrid was right, the fireblast from our laser cannons at the base blew the turret off its base. And was falling straight for Astrid!

My heart leapt to my throat as I used the monitor to zoom in and watch as Astrid ran towards the edge of Super Scarab. She barely misses the turret as it crashes onto the platform she was just on. She reached the edge just as it exploded, launching her from the Super Scarab.

Me and Nogard go at top speed racing towards her, as she falls towards the ground. I can hear her yelling over the comm.

"AAAARRRRGGGHHHHH!"

We fly right over her and her yelling stops.

"Did you get her?" I ask Nogard.

* * *

~Nogard~

I looked on the monitor and saw Astrid hanging upside down. She looked back and gave a thumbs up.

"We got her."

* * *

~Hiccup-200~

I let out a sigh of relief and slumped back in my seat a little bit. She was safe. We flew close to the ground and slowed down to drop Astrid off. It was about time we finished this thing.

"Go." I heard Astrid tell us as we flew off.

We needed to disable that thing and fast. It seemed the best way to do that was too take out the power core. But first we needed to disable that main gun. We started attacking the Super Scarab's knees. If we could take those out, it wouldn't be able to move.

* * *

~Astrid-201~

I watched as Hiccup and Nogard started flying around the Super Scarab, attacking its knees while they went. I then looked around me to see the survivors of Stoick's army, my squad mates, and the Elites that had been shot down surrounding me. They were watching almost as intently as I was.

Then, I realized something. Where were the ground forces? It certainly didn't take an army to run that thing. This was the Covenant base. They had an army. So where was it? I looked towards the hole in the volcano just in time to meet a horrifying sight. It wasn't the Covenant army. It was much worse.

* * *

**_Dun dun dun! What could possibly be there that's worse than the Covenant? Guess we'll find out next chapter._**


	14. Ch 14: Flood

Chapter 14: Flood

* * *

~Astrid-201~

I saw what appeared to be a Nadder. Or it was wearing some Nadder armor anyway. Other than that it was a sickly green, bloated, slimy, creepy, crawly, ugly zombie like thing. It had a Needler in one hand. It didn't have eyes, instead it had antenna with wired red hair coming out of the end. I gasped as I suddenly remembered something that Chief had once told me about.

That wasn't a Covenant soldier anymore. It was a flood infected zombie. Which meant one thing. The Flood were here.

"Hey guys." I said nervously, "we got company." I pointed to the zombie, who was now being accompanied by even more zombies. All of them gasped at the sight of the zombie Covenant army.

"They've been infected by Flood." Said one Elite.

"The Flood? They're here?" Asked one Marine.

We didn't get much more time to contemplate things, as the zombie army charged at us. I wasn't the ranking officer, but I quickly took charge anyway.

"Quick! Get into any vehicles you can salvage! Get those turrets operational! Remember, shotguns and energy swords work best on these things! Make sure you're at a safe distance before you throw a plasma! If you stick one of those things, they'll try to take you down with them!" I told them.

The humans and Elites threw aside any hostility they may have still had for each other, and started scrambling. I jumped into the turret of a Gauss Warthog, while an Elite hopped into the passenger's seat and Snotlout took the wheel. The Elite pulled out a human shotgun that was lying in the Warthog and loaded it.

"Let's rock and roll!" I told them and Snotlout hit the gas. I was firing before we even got close. The gauss cannon taking out two or three Flood with each blast. Several more Warthogs came up behind us. I looked back to see Stoick setting up a perimeter, as well as using the remaining Scorpions and Wraith for long range support. I looked up to see several ships breaking off from the Super Scarab battle to help out.

We reached the army and Snotlout started running over everything while the Elites fired away with the shotguns and me with the turret.

"Yeah. Take that ugly!" Snotlout cheered in joy as he continued to run over zombies.

"Yeah! You're the Spartan!" I yelled at him. The thrill of the battle ended up masking the sarcasm intended for that statement.

Unfortunatley, Snotlout was so overjoyed by that mistaken remark, that he crashed the Warthog. We quickly got out and grabbed the heaviest weaponry we could get our hands on.

I drew my SMGs and fired away at the approaching Flood. We were cornered together in a triangle, Snotlout firing a DMR to my right, and the Elite with a shotgun to my left.

_"Astrid, we need to get back with the others._" Stormfly said urgently.

"I know, I'm working on it!" I growled in frustration. We were without a ride, and stuck in the middle of the Flood army.

I then stepped on something, a flamethrower. I picked it up and blew a hole in the army. "Come on boys. Let's move!" I lead the way flaming any Flood that got close to me. Snotlout and the Elite close behind me. When the flamethrower ran out of juice, I switched to my energy axe. We eventually make our way out in front of the army and quickly get behind our own lines.

The Flood at the moment were slowly making their way closer to us.

_This was just wonderful. There's a Super Scarab that Hiccup and Nogard are taking on almost by themselves, and we're getting overrun by an army of Flood infected zombies. How could this get any worse?_

The ground started to shake violently, causing me to stagger a bit before regaining my balance. I looked back at the hole in the mountain. This thing just never stopped spewing out surprises instead of lava. This time I was hoping it was the latter. You only have to run from lava. However it seemed that running from lava would have to wait another day. What I saw next didn't come out of the mountain, it came out of the ground.

Several huge, long, green tentacles burst from the ground and sent rock flying everywhere. Inside the cave I could see another Flood rising from the ground. This was the biggest Flood I had ever seen. It was as large as the Green Death. A sickly green color like the rest, with green gas spewing out of what I believe was its mouth. As for its face, it had no eyes, in fact all it seemed to be was a large whale like mouth with some kind of mandibles in between the upper and lower jaw. And I thought the other Flood were ugly.

Then some sort of deep telepathic voice echoed in my head.

_"You cannot escape us. We are mighty, we are resilient, we are unstoppable. We. Are. Flood."_

It seems that the Flood know how to operate vehicles, and had found the Covenant's vehicle bay. Out of the hole came three modified wraiths. All of which had the Covenant's new experimental plasma mortars on them.

Great, now we're going against experimental wraiths being driven by Flood, a Giant Flood, and a Super Scarab. This is just our day. The only bright side, the zombies were finally thinning out.

* * *

~Hiccup-200~

I had seen the flood zombies going to attack our men. I had sent half of the remaining airborne units to help them. I wanted to help as well, but I knew that we needed to keep the Green Death distracted. It wasn't until later that I started reconsidering when I saw the large tentacles shoot out of the ground and heard the weird voice in my head.

"Nogard! What is that thing?"

"A Gravemind. Overlord of the Flood."

_Great._ I thought sarcastically. _Like we didn't need anything else big to go up against._

"Well this is just _wonderful_. We're barely holding out against this thing, and now we have another large destructive force, wanting to destroy us all."

"Or maybe we have two enemies, who aren't aware of each others presence." Nogard implied.

I quickly caught on to Nogard's line of thought. "Alright, the rest of you guys go help the others with the Flood. Me and Nogard need this thing focusing solely on us for this to work." I told the others over the comm.

"For what to work?" Asked Astrid.

"Just worry about the Flood and those Wraiths. I'll worry about the other two."

"Hiccup wait!-" I turn off the comms to avoid the objections to my idea.

"Alright bud. Lets make this thing mad."

We dive bomb straight at the head. Not meaning to damage it, but to get it to follow us. It took the bait and followed our every movement. It fired a shot at us but we were fast enough that it missed. It would take another several minutes for it to recharge.

We directed it straight for the cave entrance where this "Gravemind" had moved to. However the pilot of the Green Death was too focused on us. He started charging the main gun to fire at us. Noticing this we flew down in front of the Gravemind just as the beam fired. We got out of the way in time, but the Gravemind didn't. The blast took off a third of its face. But that surprisingly didn't kill it. It only made it mad.

* * *

~Astrid-201~

We had taken out the last of the ground zombies, all that was left were the Wraiths. There were only two remaining. One was being challenged by the Scorpion tanks. The last one had had an invisibility cloaking device installed, and was currently hiding.

However, experimental armor had its advantages. Hiccup had installed a visor that could see invisible objects. In fact he had apparently made most of the upgrades to the armor. How had I not noticed that before? Either way, the Wraith was strafing the outer perimeter looking for a place to strike. I decided to go after it.

I had used up all my SMG ammo, and had only one shot left in my Spartan Laser. I took out the laser and was about to aim, when the Wraith started charging at me. Timing it just right, I pulled the trigger to start charging the Laser. I then ran straight towards the Wraith. Using my enhanced agility, I jumped over the Wraith. Twisting in midair so that I was upside down above the Wraith, and aiming, just as the Laser fired. I landed behind the Wraith just as it exploded. I tossed the now useless Spartan Laser to the side as I joined back up with the others.

They had defeated the Wraith and were now all watching Hiccup and Nogard fly through the air. I pushed my way in front of everyone else, till I was standing next to Stoick in front of the crowd. I took off my helmet as I watched. Hiccup and Nogard dodged just as the Super Scarab fired, hitting the giant Flood leader instead.

I then realized what they were doing. They were going to make them fight each other.


	15. Ch 15: Aftermath

Ch. 15: Aftermath

* * *

~Hiccup-200~

Nogard and I flew our way through a ever changing maze of turret fire and tentacles. We had succeeded in making them, the Gravemind and the Green Death, fight each other. Now all we had to do was make sure they both went down. Unfortunately the Green Death was winning. It's powerful plasma beam had already taken off most of the Gravemind's head. One more shot and the Gravemind would be dead and the Scarab would still be in operation.

"Uh, Guys, the Scarab is winning." I said nervously.

"I am fully aware of that _obvious_ detail." Nogard replied pointedly.

Suddenly, an idea popped into my head, "Hey Toothless. Do you have that map of the Super Scarab Stormfly made."

_"Yes. Why?"_

"We need to get inside that thing and overload the power core."

"WHAT!?" They both yell back.

"If we overload it the following explosion will destroy both of them." I explained.

_"Are you sure about this?"_ Toothless asked.

"If either one of those things live, then we're ALL dead... Nogard." I continued, "do you trust me?"

"With my life."

Nogard changes our course and lands on one of the platforms. We got out and quickly made our way to the door. Or, as quickly one can when the ground is shaking from a battle between two giants. We went through the door and walked down the hallways.

We followed the map to one of the areas that Astrid hadn't searched. We were about to reach the first one when we were confronted by several squads of Covenant. We quickly exchanged fire and took cover.

"I guess we're on the right track." Nogard commented as I took several of them out with my Sniper rifle.

After some more gunfire and several grenades later, we had killed them. We quickly made our way down the hallway and several more. Combating several more squads on our way. We finally made our way to the power core.

It was a large wall lined with cord and in the center was a bright blue orb. We set up several charges and rigged them to a detonator. We turned a corner of a hallway and activated the detonator. The explosives blew, leaving several large holes in the wall. The bright blue orb had turned bright red.

"We need to leave." Said Nogard.

"Yeah, no kidding."

We turned and ran, following the map out.

_"Five minutes, till power core detonation."_ Toothless told us.

We reached the ship with one and a half minutes to spare. We got in and took off. The direction we were going in however was into the cave. We quickly turned around, and that was when the engines failed. Apparently they still weren't completely fixed. We ended up crashing right under the Super Scarab. The cockpits bursting opening as we hit the ground. Pieces of debris were falling down on top of us.

I looked around dazed. Thankfully my safety strap kept me held in. I got up to get out, when a piece of debris fell on my head, and everything went dark.

* * *

~Nogard~

I got out of my cockpit and looked back up for Hiccup. There was no sign of him. We needed to hurry we only had a minute left.

"Hiccup!" I called out to him.

_"Nogard!" _A voice called, but it wasn't Hiccup. It was Toothless. He sounded panicked.

"Toothless! What is it!?" I answered, panic starting to creep into my own voice.

_"It's Hiccup. He's unconscious and I can't wake him up."_

"Hold on." I quickly climbed up to Hiccup's cockpit. I looked in and there was Hiccup. He was lying there, limp, with some debris stuck in there with him.

_"Hurry, we don't have much time." _Toothless reminded me.

I grabbed Hiccup and pulled. He wouldn't move. I pulled harder but still nothing. I looked again and saw that his left leg was caught under the debris.

_"Hurry Nogard, we only have forty-five seconds left."_

I quickly looked around, even if I got him out we needed somewhere to take cover. I then spotted an extra bubble shield we had. It somehow flew out of the ship and activated during the crash. I looked back to Hiccup, and his leg.

_"Thirty seconds."_

I quickly drew out my energy sword. It wouldn't be easy, but I knew what I had to do.

* * *

~Astrid-201~

I looked on and saw them land on the Green Death. Then several minutes later they took back off. That was when I saw them crash. I gasped in fear, there was no way they could make it out of there.

Time seemed to slow down and all sound seemed to cease. That is until the Green Death exploded. The fireball engulfed the Green Death, the Gravemind, and a good five hundred yards radius around them. The shockwave knocked us back several yards. All time seemed to draw on even slower as I got to my feet and looked.

The entire world was grey as I looked at the scene before me. Ash from the Gravemind fell from the sky as I slowly walked into ground zero. There were bits and pieces of shrapnel and debris from the Green Death scattered all around. Some as big as myself, some bigger. I suddenly felt an urge and quickly ran into the falling ash. I stopped for a minute to look around. Then I saw it. The bright golden glow of a bubble shield.

Hope sprung up inside of me as I tossed my helmet to the side and ran towards the shield. I was close enough to see someone inside the shield when I froze. The shield faded and left only the sight of Nogard kneeling with his back to me.

My breath caught and my heart stopped as the images of Hiccup's pale, dead face entered my mind. I didn't even notice the tears welling up and falling down my cheeks, or General Stoick coming up to stand next to me.

Nogard looked over his shoulder at me and got up. He was holding something in his arms. He turned towards us, and in his arms was Hiccup's body. I couldn't move for fear that he was dead. But Stoick needed to know. He ran up to Nogard.

"Hiccup!" His voice was full of panic. The first time I or probably anyone had heard that in his voice before.

Regaining myself I ran up as well. Nogard handed Hiccup over to Stoick. I heard a odd sound from my wrist and looked to see Toothless projecting himself on Hiccup's shoulder looking down on him. Toothless then looked to all of us as Stormfly projected herself on my shoulder.

_"Don't worry. He's going to be fine."_ Toothless reassured us with his gummy dragon smile. I gasped in joy and started trying to catch my breath from the relief. Stoick looked ecstatic.

"He's alive! You brought him back alive!" He said turning to Nogard. Who just nodded back.

Stoick must have seen how much I cared for him, because the next thing he did was hand Hiccup's body over to me.

"Take good care of him." He said, looking me in the eye.

"I will." I responded. He then turned back to Nogard and offered him his hand in thanks. Nogard took it and they shook.

"Thank you. For saving my son."

"Well...most of him." Gobber said coming up behind Stoick.

I then looked down at Hiccup and gasped.

* * *

~Hiccup-200~

I slowly woke up from my unconscious state to find myself in my bed in a place that looked a lot like the barracks. I sat up, looked around, and confirmed it, these were defiantly the barracks. _What was I doing here? Oh great. I'm dead._

That was when Toothless projected himself no my lap. He looked extremely happy.

_"Hiccup! HiccuphiccuphiccupHiccup! You're awake!"_ He said as he started bouncing around.

"Yeah, I'm awake. Or I think I am?" I turned to get out of bed. I set my right foot down. Then my left, it wasn't until the metal 'clink' that I noticed something wrong. I looked down and saw that I was out of my armor and my boot was off. Wait, _boot_? Instead of my normal flesh and bone left foot, there was a metal prosthetic similar to the one Gobber had.

I felt my breathing start to get heavy as I took this all in. Since when do you lose limbs in death? Toothless was now sitting at my feet, looking at the prosthesis, then me.

_"Sorry, but it had to come off. You wouldn't have lived otherwise."_

"You mean I'm alive."

_"And well. Except for the foot of course."_

"What? How?"

_"You were unconscious and some debris trapped your leg in the cockpit. Nogard had to cut it off, or else we wouldn't had made it to the bubble shield in time. Thankfully the heat from the plasma blade cartelized the wound instantly, so you didn't bleed out."_

I figured I'd have to face it sooner or later, so sooner it was. I put on my gear, and slowly got up from the bed. I stood, but was a little wobbly. It wasn't easy standing on a foot and a fake foot, when you've been standing on two feet your entire life.

I took in a deep breath and stepped forward. I stumbled immediately and fell forward onto the bed in front of me.

_"Might I suggest holding onto something."_

"Thanks bud." I said sarcastically as I raised myself back up.

Now using the ends of the beds for support, I made my way to the door. By the time I reached the last bed, I had gotten somewhat used to the fake foot. I grasped the doorknob and twisted. I opened the door and there was a Phantom right there before me. I gasped and quickly close the door.

"Attack!"

_"Haha, no silly."_ Toothless laughed at me.

"What?" This was getting too confusing.

_"Just take a look."_ He said gesturing for the door.

I opened it again and saw the Phantom, helping move supplies around the base?

"Come on guys, lets go!" I hear Snotlout yell to a group of soldiers and Elites as they run across the compound with a football in his hand.

Everywhere I looked there were humans _and_ Elites working, talking, and having fun together. I was utterly dumbstruck. There was only one conclusion.

"I knew it. I'm dead."

I heard chuckling and looked to see both my dad and Nogard standing behind me laughing.

"No, you're not dead yet." Said Nogard.

"But you gave it your best shot." My dad finished.

"So," my dad continued, "what do you think?"

I looked out to see several Spartans and Elites come rushing up to us.

"Hey look! It's Hiccup!" They shouted.

My father turned to me, a look of sincere admiration in his eyes. "It turns out all we needed was a little more of, _this_."

"You just gestured to all of me?"

He just smiled back at me.

"Well, most of you. That bit there is _my_ handywork." Said Gobber pointing to my leg. "Ya think it will do?"

I looked back down at my half missing leg. "I can make a few modifications." I said sarcastically, and for once people actually laughed. I was enjoying this moment, until someone hit me hard on the shoulder. I turned to see Astrid glaring at me.

"That's, for scaring me." I was dumbstruck, again.

"W-what is it always going to be this way? Because..." I never finished though. Because just then she grabbed me by my chestplate, and pulled me into a full on kiss on the mouth. It was two seconds but felt like a lifetime before she let me go.

"I could get used to it." I said dumbly, making her smile.

Gobber then handed me the one thing I didn't have. My helmet.

"Welcome home, Captain Hiccup." Captain. Wow. That's a surprise.

"Come on Hiccup." Nogard called, "lets go try out the new ship, since the old one was totaled."

I followed Nogard into the hanger and saw that he had remade our ship. Just like the old one, only with newer parts and a more perfected design. He even still made it so that one cockpit steered, while the other fired the weapons.

"Why'd you keep it like this?"

"Because. Never break up a team."

I smiled back at him as I got in. Astrid hopped in after me.

"Hey. I'm part of this team too you know."

_This, is Berk. It storms nine months of the year, and droughts the other three. With the war going on, the place is tasteless and violent. The people are even more so. The only upsides, are our allies. While most people have humans or computers. We have, Elites._

We took off with my cockpit still open, and me and Astrid's helmets off. It felt so good to be in the open air again. We flew fast and dangerously through the base and around it. Whooping, hollering, and Yahooing the entire time.

* * *

**_So guys, how did you like it. Sad that it has to end, well it doesn't. See, I've already started work on a sequel, but I had some writer's block with it. That added to me already working on other stories, plus a lack of motivation to keep writing it at the time, and it's pretty much gone into storage. I might bring it out and start working on it again if you guys want. It might not be for a while though. So until next time..._**

**_Wolffury out._**


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